What If
by Trixfan
Summary: MSR all the way, attempting to stay in cannon but what would happen if...Scully didn't make the cut for the FBI.  How would our dynamic duo meet?  Would they still have that special bond?  Read and find out in my What If Universe.
1. Chapter 1

I'm please to present my first X-Files fanfic. First the disclaimer: CC owns everything except my imagination. What If…came to me while reading all of your stories so I have to thank each and everyone of you for the inspiration. I couldn't stop thinking, what if…

I thought, at first, it would be a single short work. My imagination has already dreamt up at least five or six chapter of angst but its MSR all the way following cannon as far as possible.

**Day 1: ****Friday night in late winter…**

'Two inches,' Dr Dana Scully muttered under her breath. 'Two inches, dammit.'

Late for work this morning, due in part to a power cut causing her alarm clock to fail and in part to the 60 hours already spent in the ER this week, Scully emptied her mail box directly into her bag. The day only got worse. Three codes in the first hour, followed by a multi-car pile up on major access road out of D.C., cause by the same rolling blackouts from the sudden blizzard meant no lunch break, in fact not a break of any kind. Non-urgent patients backed up to an eight hour wait time, fraying tempers of both staff and those awaiting medical attention.

Finally, four hours after her shift should have ended, Dr Scully showered and changed into civilian clothes and prepared to go home. As she walked to her car, Dana sifted through the mail, forgotten since this morning. Three accounts, electricity which seemed a joke, car insurance and medical registration. Well next months pay, now accounted for, meant more overtime if she wanted to buy the small luxuries like groceries. That great two bedroom apartment in Georgetown she'd seen last weekend became a figment of her imagination.

Hope came in the form of the final letter. Months ago she'd applied to the FBI. Dana Scully had two reasons for applying. Crippling debit in the form of student loans needed to be repaid for medical school and she came from a service family. The expectation, the hope of her parents, to give something back to the community, became Dana's dream. The FBI appeared to fulfil both need and want, even if her parents wanted a career in medicine for their daughter.

Then, out of the blue, last week, Dana had an interview at the J Edgar Hoover Building with two Assistant Directors and a Deputy Director. She'd nailed the interview, just like Dana Scully nailed everything she did. Well, everything in her professional life, her personal life needed a lot of work.

Now that dream, of joining the FBI lay crushed, like the paper it'd been printed on, because Dr Dana Scully proved to be two inches short of the 5'6" cut off for female agents. Oh she could apply to be a civilian consultant pathologist. The thought of basement rooms, filled with dead bodies and just adequate equipment didn't thrill Dr Scully. Maybe it would be better to continue as slave labour in the ER on her way to becoming an attending and a better pay check.

Spying a bar called "Spookies Rest" she pulled into the closest parking space. _How apt, that's just what I want to do_, Dana thought,_ get rid all my ghosts._ Even though she couldn't afford to get rolling drunk, it seemed like a great idea at the moment. Exiting the car, her letter from the FBI academy at Quantico lay disregarded on the passenger seat. Tonight she just wanted to forget.

Opening the door, a small bell jangled. No one looked up, no one took any notice of the pretty, little redhead slowing making her way inside the establishment. It gave Dana time to observe her surroundings. The mood lighting created just the right level of quiet, intimate ambience. An old fashioned wooden bar ran the length of one side of the room with three stools at either end. All the stools nearest her were empty, probably due to there proximity to the plate glass front window. Intimate booths lined the other side of the space, hiding their patrons and allowing a great degree of privacy. Between the two, table and chairs in various combinations littered the floor. Dana's attention went immediately to the dark end of the bar. Six shot glasses lined the bar before the morose man seated on the middle stool.

Before her mind could make a decision, Dana's legs carried her to the seat next to him. _Misery loves company_, she thought, _and he's probably the only man in the place who won't try to pick me up. Besides, the other stools backing into the room are taken and I don't want to sit in a booth or be on display in the front window._

Making her way to her chosen destination, Dana became aware of the frankly admiring gazes from several men. She ignored the blatant attempts to engage eye contact. Only the dark haired, trench coated figure at the opposite end of the bar seemed oblivious to her, confirming Dr Dana Scully's previous opinion. _He, at least, isn't interested_.

An all encompassing silence descended in the moments after Dana took her seat. The man to her left didn't so much as flinch at her arrival. Nor did he attempt to engage her in any way.

_Well isn't that what I wanted_, Scully asked her conscious, not liking the negative answer. Something in his manner attracted her. Something about _**him**_ attracted her. Dammed if she knew what.

'What'll it be,' the blond bar tender broke into Scully's internal conversation. She'd finally made her way to the end of the bar where Dana and the strange man sat, side by side.

'I'll have…' Scully hesitated, wanting to say what he's having so I can get blind drunk too, but it suddenly seemed clichéd.

'Pour me two,' the warm tones of the man beside Dana startled her out of her revere. Pushing a newly poured shot glass from the six lined up in front of him in her direction, his warm chocolate eyes met Dana's for the first time. She felt like drowning.

_Oh God, I'm in trouble_, she knew it as surely as she knew her name.

Holding his glass aloft, he waited for her to follow before muttering 'cheers,' downing the fiery liquid and signalling for another round. The bar tender quickly complied, filling the third and fourth glasses before the man, then moved back to her patrons at the opposite end of the bar.

'I could ask what a nice girl like you is doing in a place like this,' he teased, handing Scully yet another shooter, 'but your expression suggests disappointment. Cheers,' he commented, still holding her gaze as he swallowed the contents of the second measure.

Just like that, like the contents of the small glass being poured down her throat, Scully's life story tumbled out, to this virtual stranger.

'I'm 27 years of age, smart, educated, well adjusted. After years of studying pre-med and physics, followed by med school, I got rejected by the FBI as a field agent. I work 120 hour weeks at the Emergency Room, live in a bed sit on the fifth floor of a walk up in a questionable neighbourhood and owe more than I'm likely to make in the next five years. My professional life sucks big time but that's nothing in comparison to my personal life. As to intimate relationships, well let's not go there,' she spat in disgust.

'My 32 year old brother is married with two kids and talking about producing a third in the near future. He followed Dad into the navy as an officer and gentleman. His career gets stronger every time I talk to him. I love and hate him at the same time because he's got everything I ever wanted and it's been so easy for him.' Although Scully wanted to keep the rancour out of her voice, two shots made the emotion impossible to hide.

'My 30 year old sister is, to quote the vernacular, "way out", believing in emotions and sprits and anything else vaguely new aged. Missy's always attempting to "loosen" me up emotionally. She owns a business called "Strange Encounters".'

'That's on K street,' the slight smile had started as a twitching of his lips when Scully commenced her triad and ended as the bright grin lighting his entire face. 'I know it well.'

'That figures.' Scully sighed with resentment. 'Everyone who meets Missy remembers her.'

'All that red hair's pretty hard to miss,' holding his hands up in supplication, he continued, 'no pun intended. It's a lot like yours actually.' The comment caught Dana broadside and she turned her cerulean glare on him wondering if she'd been wrong about his interest in her. Before Scully could formulate the words to ask, he continued. 'Any other siblings I should know about?' he quizzed with just the right amounts of humour and cynicism, returning their conversation to it former topic.

'My younger brother, always wanted to see the world,' Scully sighed.

'So he became a pilot?' There, that lightly teasing tone, as though they were good friends, sent a shiver of… longing, needing, wanting…maybe even Déjà vu, down Scully's spine.

'Flight attendant,' Dana answered, suddenly unable to meet the liquid chocolate eyes peering into her soul. 'Enough about me,' she stated in her best doctor voice.

A hearty chuckle escaped his lips, making him look years younger than the age Scully first suspected. 'Are you sure you want to know?'

'I'm game,' she answered, intrigued by this man on so many levels she couldn't even begin to contemplate.

Reaching into the inner pocket of his trench coat, he pulled out a black leather folder. Opening it, he laid it open on the bar between them.

'Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI,' Scully looked in askance.

'Believe me,' his eyes shone with a strange mixture of failed hope and not quite disappointment, 'it's not all its cracked up to be.'


	2. Chapter 2

'I have an edict memory which made me about four when I realised my parents treated me differently to my new baby sister. Just after my sister turned eight, Mom and Dad went out for dinner leaving us home alone with me in charge. Samantha, my sister disappeared with out a trace that night. No motive, no evidence, no witnesses expect a 12 year old boy who couldn't recall anything.'

'It devastated the entire family. Mom accused Dad of choosing between us. It took three years for my family to finally disintegrate and find out my mother had an affair around the time of my conception. When they divorced, neither wanted me. My intelligence allowed me to escape to England and train as a psychologist at Oxford.'

'The Bureau recruited me out of grad school. They probably saved my life. The girl I got involved with like to screw with peoples minds and she'd done a great job with mine. A couple of years ago, I distinguished myself in the eyes of the powers that be by writing a monograph on the serial killer Monty Props. Now I work between behavioural science and the violent crimes units. It's never ending dark work that's invading my soul. I have to get inside the heads of these psychopaths.'

'Just recently I've pissed off my superiors be discovering the X Files, a project outside the FBI mainstream. It started as a collection of old, unsolved cases with an alternative or in your words "way out" bouquet. They fascinate me.'

'Why?' Scully asked intrigued, when he finally took a breath. She hadn't asked for his life story, but turn about seemed like fair play after she'd confessed her entire history on two shots of some unnamed liquor. Looking at him objectively, Special Agent Fox Mulder didn't appear drunk, in fact, if Scully were a betting woman, she'd say he hadn't started drinking until she arrived.

'Because, somewhere in all that information I know I'll find the answer to my sister's disappearance.' Mulder turned a serious look on her. The hurt he'd suffered as a pre-teen infused his expression. In that moment, Scully realised she'd been wrong. His eyes weren't deep chocolate but hazel. Still she found herself completely captured by him and the emotions he extruded. This man, driven by his sister's abduction could be relentless. 'Dad – well my stepfather really, started in the army only to be recruited by the State Department. He became involved in clandestine activities, which I believe lead to Samantha's abduction.'

'What does this have to do with your interests in the X files and the FBI?' Scully asked, attempting to understand this complex man.

'Who put the I in FBI,' he mocked easily. Mulder had never been so open with anyone. In fact his motto, trust no one, seemed pathetic, almost churlish in the presence of this individual. Something about this petite woman, siting beside him, enraptured by his story vindicated his complete trust. He wanted her to know about his mixed up life. 'I have the opportunity and resources to further my search for the truth about my sister's case.'

'Wow, a personal agenda,' Scully allowed her clear blue gaze to openly express her amused sarcasm, 'no wonder you've pissed off the powers that be Agent Mulder.'

The bar tender had bypassed the quietly conversing couple at the dark end of the bar on her last two sweeps. This time she noticed a loaded silence hanging in the air, surrounding them. Pausing before them, cloth in hand giving the impression of cleaning the already spotless wood, she gave them the opportunity to request another drink. Neither appeared to notice her hovering, about to turn away, the man finally spoke.

'Fill'm up,' Mulder requested, pointing to the final shot glasses before him. He watched the amber liquid slide into the glasses before him. 'So Dr…'

'Scully,' holding out her hand, Mulder took the smaller offered limb in his. The contact sent shock waves along nerve pathways, directly to the brains of the man and woman holding hands. 'Dana Scully,' she finally managed to mutter, attempting to moisten her suddenly dry lips.

'Well, Dr Scully,' his stare cut through her to the bone. _What is it about this woman, who makes me want normal like I've never wanted normal in my life_, Mulder wondered. Loathed to break the contact, Mulder used his other hand to push the shot before her. 'Cheers,' he offered, downing his glass while watching her remove her small, delicate hand, pick up her glass and do exactly the same. 'Wanna get out of here,' he asked, hoping her answer would be yes. He wanted to take this woman somewhere quiet and intimate. Mulder found himself wanting to open up and talk to her, to trust her.

'I need to tell you something first,' she hesitated, breaking all contact. Chewing on her bottom lip, she finally found the courage to tell him, 'I don't do the horizontal tango in the first date.' Once the words were out of her mouth, Scully wondered if they were aimed at Mulder or at the rapid succession of pictures suddenly assaulting her sub conscious.

'That's always good to know Dr. Scully,' Mulder attempted to lighten the mood by adding, 'with the amount of alcohol I've consumed I'm not sure could get it on.' Pausing, he asked the more important question, disguising it with mockery, 'but how do you feel about the second date?'

'I don't know,' she returned in the same vain, 'I can't remember the last time I had a second date.'

'Well there's hope for me yet.' A rich, multilayer smile split his face. 'So we gonna get out of here?'

'OK,' she agreed, not wanting this evening to be over just yet.

Mulder motioned to the bar tender and she returned her attention back to the couple. 'What do you want, Spooky?' The look in her eye said they played this game before and were familiar with each other. Following her instincts, Scully searched for any nuisance in their body language.

_Stop it_, she berated, _you are not jealous of a man you only just met and his bar tender._

'You own this place,' Scully stated, safe in the sudden knowledge.

Turning his back on the blond behind the bar, he requested, 'Shh, don't tell anyone. It's a secret.' Before suddenly asking, 'did you drive here, Dr Scully?'

'It's just Scully, Fox,' she tested his Christian name. It sounded…wrong somehow. In her mind Dana couldn't get passed calling him Mulder.

'It's just Mulder, Scully,' he returned, 'and you didn't answer my question. Did you drive here?'

'Yes,' she hissed, eyes flashing. One thing she hated, men looking out for her. Dana Scully could and did survive very well on her own.

'Give Kaylee your keys,' he demanded but his pleading look became her down fall. Reaching into her bag, Scully handed them over reluctantly, realising she would be at this man mercy, and yet she trusted him not to take advantage of her. Mulder, however, turned his back on Scully and spoke to the blond behind the bar who watched them with open amusement. 'Can you keep these until opening tomorrow, please Kaylee. I think the good doctors had too much to drink. Oh, can you give me a bottle of red, two glasses and ask Peter if I could please have a pizza to go. Want any special toppings, Scully?'

Shaking her head, Dana wondered if this man, this FBI agent had really grown up, with that pleading voice and expression he seemed more like a little lost boy. Yet he got is way which amazed Scully. Mulder could well be a very dangerous man, given the right circumstances.

'Coming right up, Spooky,' the blonde smiled, starting to clear away the empties on the bar. 'I'll get Pete to send the food up with another bottle.' She commented, handing the red and drinking implements over the bar before moving towards the kitchen.

Gathering his booty, Mulder held out his free hand before raising an eyebrow and gave a boyish smile. 'Game Scully?'

Nodding she took a deep fortifying breath before reaching for his hand. If either of then were amazed at the instantaneous sensation created by their second contact, neither showed any outward sign. This time, the electricity travelled faster and more intensely than before. Attraction flared, but neither attempted to name or quantify it.

They walked two shop fronts down the street, stopping before a door hiding the foyer of an apartment building above the commercial properties.

'You live here?' Scully asked as Mulder ignored the lift in favour of the stairs.

Laughing, he asked, 'second thoughts Scully or you still game.'

_This is my last chance to stop this_, Scully realised as they paused outside his apartment door.

'You've got free alcohol and I want to drown my sorrows, you got free food and my pantries empty,' she retorted nervously, entering the compact one bedroom space.

'Wow, a woman whose only after me for my…Why are you after me Scully,' he asked in sudden amazement.

'I'm still asking myself that question, Mulder.'

'Take a seat,' he led her through the smallest entry hall Scully had ever seen into a tiny room. Appearances suggested it served as a lounge, office and possibly sleeping space. Noting her reluctance, Mulder offered a place on the couch. 'I'll crack this. Pete should have the pizza up in ten minutes.'

'Must be nice, having a kitchen on call and access to an open bar,' she quipped, suddenly feeling nervous and wondering why on earth she'd agreed accompany this man into his home.

'Wouldn't know Scully, this is the first time I've ever ordered special delivery,' his voice floated from the kitchen. Riffling through draws, Mulder wondered if he even had a corkscrew before realising the bottle top twisted off.

'You're honestly trying to tell me I'm the first woman you've enticed up to your apartment,' Scully found that hard to believe and it showed on her face.

Rich laughter rent the air as he returned with the open bottle and took his place beside her. 'Take a look around Scully, does this actually look like a love nest. My bedrooms full of books, if you care to look because I'm an insomniac. My brain doesn't turn off like other peoples so I survive on about three hours sleep a night. Perhaps you can suggest a cure Dr Scully,' he asked suggestively.

'Several,' she teased now the tension had been broken by the playful banter. _Careful Dana_, she reminded_, it's a fine line between verbal and physical foreplay and that's not somewhere you want to go right now._ 'But none of them I think you'd like.'

'You don't know what I like, Scully,' he teased lightly, handing her a glass, 'but I'm hoping you'll find out on our second date.'

'Planning that far ahead Mulder,' she returned with a smile. Scully couldn't dissuade her mind from fantasying about what would happen on their second date. Dana knew, from the very depths of her soul, there would be a second date with this man.

'Oh yeh Scully, I want to see more of you,' he took the wine glass out of her hand and placed in on the nearby coffee table. Then he lent in for a kiss. Lips brushed in the lightest of contacts. It bespoke passion, need, want, curiosity and some other delicate emotion, in its fledgling state neither wanted to acknowledge.

Then the door bell chimed. 'Pizza here,' he smiled shyly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 4: Mulder's Apartment, Monday Morning.**

'Hey Scully,' Mulder lifted his head onto his hand and towered over his sleeping lover. They lay spooned together on his bed. Scully had insisted he clean his bedroom before they investigated the horizontal tango. It had taken all Saturday to remove years of neglect, especially with three shots and a bottle of red apiece still dulling their movements, but that night proved to be worth the effort. Their dance surpassed all his wildest dreams. The longer they danced together, the more in tune they became. At moments like this, Mulder found it hard to comprehend them ever not being together.

'Mulder,' Scully rubbed her eyes, 'what time is it?'

'0530,' he smiled, 'and I didn't wake you up for another go around…'

'Good, because three times in one night is enough,' Scully groaned. If she didn't feel so exhausted, Dana knew she'd be up for anything this man asked of her. The chemistry between them proved to be voracious and phenomenal.

'Aren't you forgetting something,' he teased, his warm breath creating a zephyr over her exposed ear. 'It's Monday morning and you have work.'

'Sheez, Mulder, I've got to be at the hospital in a little over an hour,' she complained, suddenly realising why he'd woken her. Attempting to get out of the warm bed, Scully look around the now neat room, spying her discarded clothing entangled with Mulder's. 'I'm not showing up in the same clothes I left in on Friday night.'

'Would anyone even notice, Dr Scully,' he teased lightly, running a finger over her shoulder and exacting a shiver in return. 'Besides you haven't been in them very much this weekend. I bet you look sexy in scrubs.'

'That's not a site you're going to see any time soon,' Scully returned_. At least I hope not_, Dana shivered at the sudden picture of Mulder laying on a gurney, covered in _**his**_ blood from a bullet wound. Turning to face him, Scully lost all her humour, 'I don't ever want to ever see you in my ER.'

'I can't promise that,' Mulder returned seriously, instinctively realising the fear welling in her imagination. A fear he shared for completely different reasons. The sudden and instinctive ability to sense Dana Scully's thoughts, the closeness they'd discovered this weekend, scared the hell out of Fox Mulder. 'Danger comes with the conditions of employment.'

'I know, but this connection we have, that we've just started…' Lost for words, she curled into herself.

'Scully, look at me,' Mulder pleaded in a tone he knew she found useless to resist. Rewarded with her cerulean gaze, he lifted a hand to her cheek and gently caressed it. 'This is just the beginning of something big. I felt it the moment you walked into "Spookies Rest". It's not going to be easy given out personalities and jobs.'

Sighing, he sat up, explaining, 'I have a plane to catch this morning. Assistant Director Skinner called last night before I joined you in the shower. I'm going to Miami to profile a serial killer. I'll be away at least this week and possibly next. It depends on how long it takes to catch him.'

Nodding her understanding, Scully leaned in for a kiss. Like their first brief meeting of lips, unexpressed emotions communicated themselves. If either deepened the intimate gesture, they would never leave. Breaking away first, Scully smiled sadly. 'I have to go. I'm only just going to make it after swinging by my place.'

'Scully,' something in Mulder voice made her turn around. Fossicking around on his bedside table, he found and threw her car keys. Examining them, Dana noticed two new keys on the ring. 'Feed the fish while I'm away.' He asked much more of her than the simple words suggested, but not more than she would give willingly.

Nodding, Dana Scully gathered her scattered clothing and headed for the lounge room. If she looked back now, Dr Scully would never make it to work on time.

**Day 13: Georgetown ER, ****Tuesday evening**

Frustrated, Dr Scully pulled a face in the restroom mirror. The ER looked like a war zone. The last of the winter weather set up several freeze thaw cycles creating black ice on the roads. The number of accidents had trebled but that wasn't the real problem. Dana, like the obedient child of a Navy Officer, she'd turned up at Mulder's apartment every third day to feed his fish. Yet he hadn't bothered to contact her. Not so much as a voice message or text in the eight days since she'd left his warm bed and addictive embrace.

'What could I possibly have been thinking,' she asked the reflection, self loathing dulling the usual smiling eyes. 'I only met him on Friday, we tripped the light fantastic Saturday and all day Sunday and it's over by Monday. What did you expect from a guy you picked up in a bar?'

'Right, he admitted to an attraction, gave you a key to his apartment and flew out to catch a serial killer. Maybe, like you, he's just exhausted and trying to get through the best way he know how, so you can spend some quality time together when you finally get the chance,' the reflection mocked.

Disgusted with herself, Dana turned away from the mirror and exited the ladies room. Tomorrow she had days off and Dana Scully intended to use them. She'd call her mother and go out for lunch, then maybe drop in on Missy at her shop. In fact, Scully took out her phone but before she could dial, the instrument in her hand vibrated. The caller Id didn't give her any clue as to the callers' identity. Premonition forced Scully to take the call.

'Dr. Scully,' she sounded fatigued, frustrated and fed up.

'Dana, you sound tired,' Maggie Scully commented softly, unable to hide her concern.

'I am, Mom,' Scully admitted. Her mother would know just how tired because she admitted it. Usually, the quick denial, _I'm fine,_ greeted anyone who bothered to ask. 'I'm off tomorrow. Can we have lunch?'

'I'll call Missy and set it up,' Maggie replied. Dana didn't need to know this call had been initiated by Missy, who had just hung up on her mother, saying she felt confused about Dana's aura. That, Maggie Scully knew, implied Dana's emotions were chaotic. The bond between her daughters sometimes astounded her. While one proved to be emotionally intelligent, the others intellectual capacity kept her emotions well hidden.

'No, Mom,' Scully pleaded, 'just you and me.'

'If that's what you want,' Maggie agreed easily, realising the level of her daughter's emotional confusion. 'Is there anything you need to talk about?'

'I've met someone, Mom,' Scully paused, wanting to spill everything over the phone, knowing this was neither the time nor place. 'He's an FBI agent.'

'And,' Maggie gently encouraged.

'I got rejected, Mom,' the tears suddenly streamed down her face. Appreciating the pause on the other end of the line had her mother waiting for more details, Scully continued, 'by the FBI not by the agent I met, although that might still happen too.'

'Dana,' infusing her voice with all the motherly love she could, Maggie just wanted to jump for joy. Her daughter was not going to be a field agent, she would stay in medicine. While Bill and Maggie's preys might be answered, Dana quite obviously felt devastated.

'I'll tell you about it tomorrow,' Scully promised. 'My pagers going crazy, I have to go now, Mom.'

'Be ready by 1230, I'll pick you up from your apartment. My treat.' Maggie smiled as she disconnected, planning how she would get her daughter to open up emotionally.

Three and a half hours later, on time for once, Dr Dana Scully handed the pager over to the incoming resident and asked, 'any questions, Lauren?'

'No,' she replied, carefully choosing her next words. 'You look beat, Dana. I hope you're going home to get some rest.'

'That's the plan.' Scully sounded as shattered as she felt. 'I'm so drained, I'm not sure I can drive home.'

'After you get showered and changed, you'll find the energy,' Lauren sympathised. Rolling her eyes at the pagers sudden blaring, she added over her shoulder, 'drive safe, I don't want the next MVA to be you.'

She hadn't even hit the shower when her phone shrilled. Once again the caller refused to be identified. Hoping the private number meant the voice on the other end would be the only one she wanted to talk to, Dana answered the phone with, 'Scully.'

'You sound tired,' Mulder heard far too much in that single word. The same word made him feel even more, so much more than he wanted to feel.

His warm tone washed over Dana, removing the bone weary fatigue and replacing it with a short lived euphoria. 'I am Mulder,' Scully told him truthfully. 'I'm on my way home from my eighth shift in as many days. I've been working 12 hours plus a day since you left.' As much as she didn't mean it to, the words came out as an accusation, as though his not being accessible forced her to work these extended hours.

'Our jobs were never going to make this easy, Scully,' he sighed guiltily because he'd only told a partial truth about his sudden trip to Florida. Mulder had completed the initial profile within three days and the suspect had been apprehended shortly after, without further input from him. The reason for staying on revolved around an X-File. Attempting to kill two birds with one stone, Mulder investigated the reported sighting of a mermaid south of Miami. What he'd uncovered involved clandestine genetic experimentation under the cover of a cosmetic surgery institute. The Miami field office had taken over the case but insisted Mulder stay on for the final operation and apprehension of the suspects. Now his curiosity had him buried in paperwork he didn't have a chance in hell of finishing before the weekend. 'I'm not going to apologise for that. I love my job and I suspect you feel the same way about yours.'

'Some days I suspect I do,' Scully's tone hinted at her unspoken apology to the carefully worded rebuke.

'Nice to know I've been missed,' his warm tone expressed appreciation and acceptance of the tacit portion of their conversation.

'I began to think you'd forgotten about me,' she really hadn't meant to say it, but out it came. Tears welled but she refused to shed them.

'Scully, I could never forget you for one minute,' Mulder responded. He's lain awake at night remembering every moment of their time together and reliving each touch, caress, and movement. 'In case you've forgotten, I have an edict memory. I couldn't forget you, even if I wanted to, Scully,' he whispered in such a seductive tone, Mulder heard Scully draw in a frustrated breath. 'I'll be home on Friday, Scully and you're the first thing I want to see.'


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you all for the reviews. It's nice to have my work validated. You make me feel that it's worth the imagination. Even better is the number of alerts and favourite story's I've received. I really can't thank you guys enough. Remember, this idea came from reading you're stories, so it's really all thanks to you.

**Day 14:**** Scully's apartment, Lunch Time, Wednesday.**

'I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a very deep chasm and about to fall if I make the slightest move,' Dana Scully finished, no longer able to meet her mothers gaze after the story about her weekend and it's fallout yesterday with Mulder spewed forth.

Attempting to hide her growing mirth, Margaret Scully belayed her next words by lifting the coffee cup to her lips. It not only hid her burgeoning smile, but stoped the words she really wanted to say from falling, unfiltered from her mouth. _Thank god, my preys have been answered_, Maggie secretly delighted_, not only is my daughter going to continue as a doctor, but from the way she speaks of this Fox Mulder, I think she finally found someone capable of being her intellectual and emotional equal._

They hadn't made it to the restaurant. Once Maggie gave her daughter a hug and sat down at her tiny table squeezed between the kitchenette and minuscule bathroom in the studio apartment, the words flowed from Dana like a swollen river approaching a waterfall. Glad she hadn't needed to use her wiles to force her youngest daughter to open up emotionally, Maggie mourned Dana's lack of insight. Tomorrow, ten days after she'd last seen Fox Mulder, and from what she'd implied, left his warm embrace, Dana would turn twenty-eight. Maggie Scully's youngest daughter, for all her intelligence, could be very oblivious sometimes. Wondering how long it would take for Dana to realised she'd met this man, this Fox Mulder on Valentines weekend and her feelings were indeed real.

'So,' Maggie asked carefully, 'are you going to meet him at the airport on Friday?'

'I want too,' she confessed, confused by the conflict between emotion and professionalism. Head verses heart, an age old struggle but one Dana Scully rarely gave consideration because she rarely chose to acknowledge the emotions generated by her heart. This time, this situation forced her head to acknowledge her feelings because they were proving to be to deep and true to conceal.

'Don't make work your excuse, Dana,' Maggie's brow furrowed with worry.

'That's essentially what Mulder told me,' Scully acknowledged, feeling ridiculously torn. 'I'm trying to get someone to take my night shift on Friday at least.'

'Good for you.' Maggie applauded with a beaming smile. 'Let me give you some unsolicited advice. If you think this could be it, grab it with both hand and don't let go. I don't want you to have regrets.'

'This might be it, Mom,' Scully professed in a small, strangled voice, as though discovering this particular truth for the first time. 'Bt it's not going to be easy.'

'Nothing worth having is ever easy,' Maggie commented sagely. 'If you think, even for a single moment, this has a chance of succeeding, make it work, Dana.' Searching the younger woman's rapidly moving expressions, Maggie said in a soft tone, 'It's not a matter of chance, Dana. This is entirely up to you and what you're prepared to sacrifice.'

'Why?' Scully questioned, staring intently at her mother for the answers her mind refused to acknowledge. The implications frightened her. In her agitation she fingered the cross at her throat.

'Because Missy felt your emotional confusion without laying eyes on you in the last two weeks,' Maggie broke the intense atmosphere with a smirk, knowing Dana understood.

Rolling her eyes and attempting to hide her smile, Scully asked, 'did she say my chakras or my aura are off this time.'

'Both, I believe,' Maggie's laughter intensified as she came around the table to hug her daughter.

'I love you, Mom.' Dana whispered with unshed tears once again welling. For a strong woman, tears seem to be a new accompaniment to any situation. Along with a bone weary fatigue. Mulder and the feeling he generated in her had a lot to answer for_. Or maybe if I stop fighting them_, Scully silently conceded. 'I know I don't say it enough,' she told her mother, 'but I do.'

'I know, Dana, I know,' Maggie responded lightly, sensing the great changes taking place in her daughters mind. 'One day, when you're a mother, you'll know just how unconditionally a mother loves her children.' Leaving those images of the future, Maggie stood and asked, 'now, shall we please Melissa and let her clean your aura or unclog your chakra or what ever it is she does in that shop of hers.'

Nodding, feeling happier than she had in days, Scully pick up her keys, and followed her mother out to her car. All the way down five flights of stairs, Scully couldn't help her fingers searching out the new brass key. Feeling the capital M engraved on one side, it made this thing with Mulder all that much more valid.

Missy rushed over to her sister as she entered the crowded shop. She's been expecting this since calling her mother yesterday. Instead of crushing Danes to her, Missy placed her hands on her sister's shoulders. Sensing something, Melissa finally drew Dana into a tight embrace before whispering in her ear, 'You on the pill, Danes?'

'There hasn't been much…' the quite response stopped mid sentence as Dr Dana Scully's mind continued silently _of a need up until now, Crap._

Once the pair left, Missy returned to her office looking up an old invoice. Taking a deep breath, because she knew Dana would kill her if she ever found out about this, Melissa dialled the number.

'Agent Mulder,' she queried the moment the phone picked up.

'Yes,' the voice on the other end sounded distracted.

'You don't know me. My manes Missy. I own a shop called…'

'Strange encounters,' he cut her off with a strangled tone. Missy had his full attention. 'Has something happened to Scully?'

'No, Agent Mulder,' Missy couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice. This man had it bad for her sister, almost a bad as Dana had it for him. 'I thought you might like to know, tomorrow is Dana's twenty-eighth birthday.'

'Good to know,' he returned with cautious amusement.

'Oh, and Agent Mulder,' Missy teased, 'treat this as one of your X-Files.'

Laughing with mirth now, Mulder replied, 'you're telling me she doesn't need to know about this conversation.'

'Not about my involvement any way,' Missy cautioned.

Hanging up the phone from the strange but enlightening conversation, Mulder couldn't hide his boyish grin. The young female agent assigned to aid him glared before asking, 'girlfriend,' in a very caustic voice. Mulder had been well aware of her interest in him but chose to ignore it.

'Girlfriend's sister,' he said. Hearing the words spill from his mouth for the first time came as something of a shock to Mulder. He'd consider the ramification and the fact that his heart marched a rapid tattoo, latter. 'Seems Scully neglected to tell me it's her birthday tomorrow.'

'What woman neglects to tell her boyfriend about her birthday,' the agent questioned, not believing a word.

Hearing this description of himself stunned Mulder almost as much as referring to Scully as his girlfriend. _I knew this would be big_, he considered, _just not quite this monumental_. Forcing his attention back to his waiting co-worker, he grinned, 'a very practical one.'

'Not practical enough to forget Valentines Day,' she muttered with rancour but the young agent had to wonder. Special Agent Mulder arrived in Miami on the fourteenth of February. In the days since, he'd never mentioned his significant other leading her to believe he'd be fair game.

As though reading her mind, Mulder couldn't keep the full bodied laugh to himself. 'Let's just say we did most of our celebrating on the thirteenth.' Pausing he added, 'can you book me a flight back to D.C. this afternoon or at latest early tomorrow morning. Do you think I could get this paper work to go?' He attempted to use his best little boy expression.

Sighing, the agent wondered what this Scully had that she didn't. 'There's not much left to do, Agent Mulder, I can finish it up. I'll arrange to have you on that plane in the next couple of hours. You can pick your ticket up at the airport. Why don't you go find you girl something special for her birthday,' she finished sarcastically.

Choosing to ignore the woman's animosity, Mulder grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, thanked his colleague and high tailed it out of the Miami field office.

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><p>OK now I have a dilemma. I know where I want to go but I'm not sure how to get there. Chapter 6 is written but I'm finding it hard to link it to this one. If anyone has any ideas of where they think this is going, and I can work it into the overall plot, I'd love to hear.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

A very big thank you to ya-fic for their idea which inspired this chapter, and allowed me to overcome my writers block.

**Day 14: ****Miami Beach, Wednesday Afternoon.**

'Mulder,' he answered the phone, hoping it would be Scully so he could tell her the good news. The words_ I'm coming home_, died on his lips, because the only follow up, _too you_, caused havoc with his heart rate and stunned his brain into inactivity. In that moment, Mulder forgot about the FBI, his X Files and the truth he so desperately search for. It had all been replaced by the image of a petite red haired woman. As if struck by lightening, at least that's how it felt, Mulder prospective tilted, the world shook and he knew he'd never been the same man again.

_One weekend and a single phone call_, he reminisced, _and I'm reduced to this?_

'Agent Mulder, its Kate Kramer from the FBI travel centre. I called to let you know your flight to D.C. departs Miami airport at 8pm this evening, arriving at midnight. You need to pick your ticket up by seven.'

After thanking the woman, Mulder ended the call, packed his belongings and wondered what he could do to kill the next two hours. Leaving his luggage at reception, he intended to take a walk and get something to eat before retuning for his bags and heading for the airport.

He'd barely walked two blocks when he saw them in the window, a set of silver earrings in a tourist shop. Crafted into the shape of a fox, the animal's fluffy tail hung loosely behind, forming the clasp that would hold the earring in place. He knew they'd be perfect for his Scully. They said so much with so little.

_Hey, whoa_, Mulder worked hard to stop his mental processes and swallowed awkwardly. Since when had Dr Scully become _**his Scully**_.

_Since the moment she walked into "Spookies Rest"_ his mental alter ego informed. Cursing his photographic memory, Mulder's mind flashed a picture of Scully on that very night, small pearl earrings peeking out from behind all that hair. A delicate gold chain graced her neck containing a catholic cross, which nestled just above the dip of her cleavage. The Miami heat didn't compare to the internal warmth this single thought invoked.

Rushing into the shop before he could change his mind, Mulder requested the package be gift wrapt. He knew Scully would love them, and she would wear them. Those thoughts sent his blood pressure soaring as Mulder attempted to understand the meaning behind wanting to mark her as _**His**_. He'd never experienced this feeling before so it took some getting use to.

_How much do I actually know about this woman,_ he asked. The answer astounded him, _everything I need to know and nothing at all._

Hell, Mulder knew Scully practiced medicine in an ER, but hadn't bothered to inquire which one. She lived in a single room on the fifth floor of a walk up, but he couldn't say exactly where. She liked red wine while pizza had been considered a treat food.

On that first night, in his apartment after they shared little more than a brush of lips, he asked her if she believed in the existence of extraterrestrials. Scully, ever rational and logical, had answered, no and given him a rigorous scientific explanation over a slice of pizza and glass of red. When he theorised that the laws of physics sometimes didn't hold in his work, she'd called them universal invariants and added that the answers were there, he just had to know where to look. Then they'd talked about her senior thesis, Einstein's Twin Paradox Theory, a new interpretation. He'd been more than impressed by her rendition of the famous physicist.

The entire conversation lasted until well into the morning when they dozed on his couch, his arm draped over her shoulder, Scully's head on his chest. Just the memory of it warmed the region surrounding his heart and engaged his intellect. Perhaps this very difference at the core of their personalities drove the attraction between them. Mulder could see Scully keeping him honest, focused, and grounded in a world which appreciated such thought processes. Professionally, she'd shown Mulder he needed to keep his head in the game, if he wanted to continue his work on the X-Files unencumbered by bureaucracy.

That's why he'd found himself in Miami on the kind of cases he'd come to loath. The cases which took a small part of his soul each time he forced his mind into that of a killer. Yet this case had taken him less time and mental effort than he would have expected. The bureau had been inordinately pleased with his work and allowed him the freedom to chase down his X-file. Mulder's mind didn't seem agitated by the foray into the dark, evil psyche of a serial homicidal maniac. He wondered if his new found happiness accounted for the contemporaneous capture of the Miami serial killer.

When had he last felt happy, Mulder couldn't remember. Yes he could, he'd been twelve years old and his sister, Samantha hadn't yet disappeared. In finding Scully, that imperative, his whole reason for investigating the X-Files began to pale into insignificance. He just wanted normal and he wanted it with Scully.

Bring out his credit card to pay for the gift, Mulder spied a large headed, beady eyed, grey creature inhabiting the far corner of the counter. 'I'll take that too,' he used his best boyish grin at the sales assistant. 'I think I'll name it Spooky.'

_Something to remind Scully of me when I'd out of town_, Mulder's brain failed to see the satire in this thought.

Once out of the shop, carrying a paper bag, Mulder reached into his pocket and called Scully. She picked up on the second ring.

'I swear, Missy, I've told you everything there is to know about Fox Mulder,' Dana hissed.

'That's nice to know,' Mulder teased lightly, overcome with joy at the fact Scully had talked to her family about him.

'Mulder,' she screeched.

'Scully,' he returned in the same vain. 'Guess what?'

'Mulder, with you anything possible,' she quipped.

'So any guess is fair game. Go on Scully, you know you want too.'

'OK,' she thought about it for five seconds before answering. 'You really went to Miami to solve an X-File and just happened to do a little work on this serial killer case as a favour the FBI so they'd stay off your back about wasting public resources for a personal quest.'

'Wow, Scully,' impressed and guilty, Mulder couldn't hide his confusion.

'Ah, got it in one,' she crowed gleefully.

'Someone's had a good day,' he returned. 'My ears have been burning, so tell me what you said to your sister.'

'Mulder,' Scully groaned, realising he'd never let this go.

'I'll forgive you,' he added magnanimously, 'if you meet me at the airport later tonight and spend your birthday with me tomorrow.'

'I'm going to kill Missy,' Scully decided, realising her well intentioned sister had contacted Mulder. 'I'll meet you at the airport seeing as I've nothing better to do, but I have to be at my parents for a family dinner tomorrow night.'

'Am I invited,' Mulder asked, his tone implied hilarity to cover how much her answer meant to him.

'You want to be willingly exposed to both my brothers and my father in a confined space, you're crazier than I thought.' Scully used humour to hide her surprise. 'Or are you just attempting to find a way not to miss Missy?'

'Scully, your sister doesn't hold a candle to you,' Mulder returned seductively.

'Always good to know, Mulder,' Dana found herself delighted by the banter. 'If you think you can handle the whole family, I'm game but I won't be responsible for the out come.'

'Leave that to me, Scully, I'm the trained professional.'

To which Scully snorted, noted down his flight number and promised to see him in a few hours.

Mulder stepped through the gate, searching the crowd. He saw her. Scully's red hair shone like a beacon. This woman did for him what few others had. She incited his trust. Mulder hadn't stopped thinking about these feelings towards her since boarding his flight in Miami. He wanted to confess that he loved her, but knew it to be too soon. Not for him, but for his ever rational and logical Scully. She'd barely had time to process her thoughts or feeling about him, let alone allowed herself to believe she could come to love him. Mulder needed to bide his time, play her game and wrap her up in him so totally, she wouldn't be able to see beyond Fox Mulder.

'Hey,' he muttered, stopping before her. Their eyes locked, like a pair of deer in the head lights of an approaching car, neither had the power to pull away. Dropping his carry on, Mulder's hands reached towards her face, taking her cheeks in a warm, careful hold. Treating Scully like porcelain, he moved closer. His lips touched hers softly when she shackled his wrists with her tender touch, holding him close. The greeting over before it began, they rested foreheads together. 'Happy birthday, Scully,' he offered in a soft tone.

'Let's get out of here,' she returned, finding it hard to break the intimate contact. 'I've missed you.'

Leaning in once again, Mulder brushed his lips against Scully's. Taking her small hand in his, he laced their fingers, picked up his bag and made for the baggage carousel. Once there, he could no longer wait. 'I got you something,' he smiled shyly.

Torn between telling Mulder he didn't need too and wanting him to present it now, Scully laughed as the ugly, grey alien appeared from a brown paper bag inside hand luggage. 'I thought "Spooky" might keep you company when I'm in the field,' he smiled, delighted by her rapid acceptance of his namesake.

'Someone to cuddle up too,' Scully joined in, taking the ugly toy and hugging it with both arms. Then she saw the brightly coloured packaged tied to the little aliens hand. Holding the doll under one arm, she made short work of the package. On opening the small jewellery box, Scully's hand covered her mouth and her eye's sort his. 'Thank you,' she muttered passed the tears which seemed to be a constant companion lately.

'Put them on,' he hesitated a moment, not realising he'd been holding his breath until she nodded, handing Mulder both the box and the toy. Taking first one, then the other little fox out of the silk lining, Scully replaced her studs. If Mulder considered the world shifting earlier in the day, it proved nothing to the sight of Scully bolding wearing his emblem on her earlobes.

Smiling up at him, neither need to communicate they sense of urgency. This would be the last place on earth, or anywhere else in the known universe, Scully and Mulder cared to be.


	6. Chapter 6

Warning: this is a short one but necessary to the plot. I don't like begging for reviews but I wouldn't mind someone, anyone letting me know if you like this so far!

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><p><strong>Day 15: <strong>**Mulder's Apartment, Thursday Evening **

How had he gotten himself into his mess? _That's right, I wanted to go_, he remembered, standing before his closet searching for something suitable to wear, _I actually asked to go._

_Jeans_, he considered, _no, too casual and this goes way beyond casual_. Not that he and Scully had actually been on a real date, casual or otherwise. Going down to "Spookies" to grab a meal or across the street to the dinner for breakfast didn't count. They rushed though the food on their plates only to devour desert in the privacy of his apartment.

_Suit_, came the second thought, his hand moving to the best work attire, _no, that implies I'm trying too hard to impress her family_. Mulder wanted to make a very good impression on the Scully clan, but this would be too much for a first meeting.

The enormity of this date hit him like a brick falling from the top of a ten story tenement. Mulder reached in for a green polo shirt his mother gifted him on his last birthday, intending to match it with a green sweater and chinos_. Smart and casual, just the image I want_, he decided.

Leaning against the door frame between Mulder's bedroom and the lounge, Scully worked hard to deny her amusement. Much the same thoughts went though her mind when she packed her overnight bag before heading to the airport to pick Mulder up last night. On time as always, Scully had showered and dressed earlier. She now waited for Mulder. Standing before his cupboard in white boxers and singlet, Dana watched the motion picture of thoughts communicate his feelings as they crossed his face.

'Second thoughts Mulder, or are you still game,' she teased, deliberately using the word he uttered to her outside his front door barely two weeks previously.

Smiling at the memory, Mulder quipped, 'Second thoughts, hell no Scully, closer to changing my mind for the thirty-second time in as many minutes.'

'It's not too late,' she supplied, belaying the anxiety she'd feel if he pulled out at this late stage. 'There's still time to back out'

The look he gave her, half scorn, half pure, unadulterated fear expressed his disquiet. 'Never, Scully,' he straightened up and pulled the polo over his head.

'Well don't say I didn't give you the opportunity.' Scully's delight came from his refusal to consider backing out. It sent a shiver of delighted anticipation throughout her body.

'You going to give me a sitrep - situation report,' he asked in a small voice while pulling on his chinos. Sitting on the end of the bed to dress his feet in socks and lace-up, he glanced up at Scully with those puppy dog eyes he used with devastating effect. 'I'd like to be prepared.'

'Not on your life, Mulder,' Scully mused. 'You're on your own with this one. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the show.'

**Day 15: ****Scully Residence, Thursday evening.**

'That seemed to go well,' Scully considered, placing a plate in the dish rack. She'd volunteered Mulder and herself for the chore so they could talk and to give Mulder a breather from her inquisitive family.

'Which part,' he asked taking the dish towel and starting to wipe. 'The bit where you dad asked my future intention towards his daughter before asking my name, or the bit where your older brother glared at me every time I so much as looked at you, never mind attempted to touch you, or finally your youngest brothers insatiable curiosity about how and when we met.'

'Don't forget Bill's kids asking when they can call you Uncle Fox officially,' Dana laughed, unable to remember a time when she'd had so much fun. 'It really wasn't that bad.'

'Oh, not for you maybe,' he mocked, 'your dad expected me to propose any day, Bill's afraid that I just might, until Charlie discovered we met in a "spooky" bar two weeks ago. I can understand, your family protecting your best interests, Scully, but what's with Missy's pointed glances?'

'I thought you'd already realised,' Scully laughed openly at him, 'she's not that discreet.'

'Meaning everyone knows we've done the wild thing,' he returned, not please with the idea. 'Well, at least I know why your father and brothers reacted to us in the way they did.' Mulder returned with mock insincerity.

'They do kind of make themselves obvious,' Missy chipped in from the doorway, smiling broadly.

'This is a private conversation,' Dana warned her sister.

'Not in this household,' Missy returned, ecstatic to see her sister finally content. If only they could see how entwined, not only their body language but also their auras were, Missy knew her job would be done. _Still, it's something they have to discover on their own_, she recognize, unable to stop herself from giving them a push.

'I've got a bone to pick with you,' Scully rased an eyebrow which terrified Mulder at her side. He'd come to know that look intimately.

Missy, on the other hand gave a curious glance in return, and asked, 'Why? He's home isn't he and for your birthday, Danes.'

'Don't call me Danes,' Scully's cheeks flared, embarrassed by her sisters openness and ability to discuss what should have been a private matter in front of Mulder.

'By the way,' Missy threw over her shoulder, realising she accomplished what she'd set out to achieve, 'I love your earrings. Fox looks good on you.'

Mulder's rich, warm laughter filled the kitchen and wafted into the living room where the rest of the Scully's sat.


	7. Chapter 7

Special note: Loona127 "Will there be a point in the Story when private life and work will clash together? Like some maniac interfering in their lives?" You must have read my mind!

**Day 21: ****Georgetown Hospital Emergency Room, Wednesday Morning**

'Are those the results from the blood I took for you before I left last night,' Lauren asked, peering over Dana's shoulder at the paper in her hand.

'Yes,' she answered, slightly dazed.

'Are they what you expected?' Lauren continued to question in a light tone.

'Yes,' Scully turned her face up to look at her friend and colleague, pleading for her not to query further. 'Thank you for being on time. It's not been too hectic overnight, but I'm more than ready to go home. How's Shelby?'

'Colt's home this week,' Lauren answered easily, 'so he has the responsibility for a sick child. Besides, I'm only a phone call away if they need me.'

'How do you do it,' Scully asked in amazement. 'You're husband has a fly in/fly out job on an oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico so you only see him every third week, you have two children, one who has asthma and you work the same number of hours each week that I do.'

'Well,' Lauren smirked, rolling her eyes, 'it takes some juggling, believe me. Colt's mother lives with us, he's an only child and his father passed away while my husband attended college. My mom helps out, along with my siblings. I'm the eldest of six girls, so Tanya and Megan are earning their college tuition by sitting the kids when no one else is available. And,' she paused, informing Scully the best had been left for last, 'as of June, I'm starting my two year paediatric anaesthetic fellowship. Nine to six for me, day cases only, on call one weekend in eight after the first year.'

'I thought you loved the ER,' Scully queried slightly taken back.

'I do, and I might return in the future, once we have completed our family,' Lauren's suppressed giggles, in proportion to Dana's surprise, 'I've always wanted four kids, and Colt, being an only child is happy to have a big family. For now, our jobs need to fit in with our lifestyle, not the other way around.' Turning serious, Lauren checked the pager Dana had handed over a few minutes ago, glad they weren't needed at this moment. 'What about you, Dr Scully. ER is not your passion. You loved the work you did in forensic medicine.'

'I got rejected by the FBI,' Scully confessed. Out side of Mulder and her family, no one knew she'd even applied.

'I'm not sorry to hear that, Dana,' Lauren gave a sympathetic smile. 'You're way too good a doctor to be little more than a glorified M.E. trapped in some basement somewhere.'

'I wanted to be a field agent,' Scully professed, 'but I guess with my qualifications I would have been stuck in Quantico teaching instead of out in the field.'

Openly laughing, Lauren added, 'It would have to be a very special branch of the FBI to utilize your skills to their best advantage. I've never met anyone as rational and logical as you. Few other residents are able to validate their conclusions and rigorously defend their medical diagnoses like you can.'

'Thank you,' Scully murmured, embarrassed by the praise.

'So, while we have a minute of privacy, tell me about this guy you're dating?' Lauren threw her friend a _Oh come on, I haven't see you this happy, ever_ look. When Dana Scully still refused to answer, Lauren reached out a hand and said, 'Give me something to look forward too, spill.'

A sanitised, edited version left Scully's lips as she fingered the little fox earrings dangling from her lobes. 'He's in New York on a case,' she finished, glancing down at her watch. 'I said I call him before I left work.'

'Go use the phone in the attendings office. He won't be in for at least another hour. You'll have some privacy.' Lauren's open excitement for her friend showed in her expression. 'If anyone tries to disturb you, I'll give you the heads up.' With that, Lauren pushed Dana from the flight deck, towards the offices at the back of the department.

Sitting down with a heavy sigh, she dialled his number while looking at the print out in her hand. Shaking the cobwebs from her exhausted mind, Scully carefully folded the sheet and placed it in her pocket for future reference.

'Hey beautiful,' he answered in a whisper. 'I've been waiting for your call.'

'Hey,' she answered, warmth invading each cell in her body. 'Any idea when you'll be home?'

'Not soon enough,' he bit back the sarcastic answer. 'All going well, the best possible answer would be late tomorrow but I promise I'll be back for the weekend, even if I have to come back next week to finish up.'

'Mulder,' Scully warned, not wanting him to jeopardise his case for her.

'I'm not going to make work my priority, Scully,' his harsh tone spoke volumes.

'Call me when you know for sure,' she conceded, 'I'll come over the first chance I get.'

'Deal,' Mulder couldn't wipe the goofy grin from his face. 'Sleep well Scully. I'll call you tomorrow.' Placing the cell back in his pocket, several agents in the bullpen made low whistles. They'd pulled an all nighter to profile this psychopath killing young woman and now had a workable theory. A little more evidence and they'd not only save the lives of more college students but wrap this case up tighter than hitch knot.

'Hey, Spooky,' Agent Myers ribbed, 'what happened to that X-File you wanted to look into over the weekend.'

Shocked these men knew about or care enough to comment on the X-Files, Mulder quickly recovered his composure. 'Some things in life are way more important than chasing after extraterrestrials,' he quipped. Only Mulder knew how profound that statement would turn out to be. How profound the effect one small redhead had on his life. If someone, anyone had told him he'd meet a woman capable of making him forgo investigating an X-file, he would have called them crazy. Now, Mulder knew they'd be telling the truth. Nothing could be more important to him than making it home this weekend to His Scully.

'Boy,' Myer's grinning ludicrously, 'she must be some girl.'

'You better believe it,' Mulder look and sounded as stunned as he felt.

**Day 23: ****Mulder's Apartment, Friday evening.**

Mulder heard a key in the lock, listening as the barrel engaged. Wondering if he should go for his gun, instinct stopped him, frozen, facing the door. Finally it opened to present Scully's silhouette.

'I didn't expect you this early,' he murmured seductively, moving towards her.

'I called in some favours,' she returned, eyebrow rased, 'a lot of favours.'

'I'm glad.' His hands found their way to her face, cupping Scully's cheeks. She curled her fingers, encircling his wrists, forcing him to maintain the intimate contact. Then he leaned in for a kiss. Their signature kiss, barely a brushing of lips, yet it communicated so much words could never express. Resting his forehead against hers in spite of the height difference he whispered 'I love you.'

This, the first time he said it, seemed perfect.

Their second kiss, deeper, more passionate, involved soft lips exploring each other. It bespoke delights that would follow, slowly, exquisitely, executed with an ardour they hadn't experience before. Mulder scooped Scully into his arms. Without breaking contact, he carried her into his bedroom and laid her gently on his bed. Moving away, he slowly reached for the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. While he made deliberate motions to remove the rest of his clothing, Mulder trapped her cerulean gaze, locking them into something so deep and obsessive, neither could break the spell.

This, Scully knew, would be different to anything they'd previously shared together. Different from anything else she'd ever shared or felt for another human being.

'Mulder,' she pleaded to be heard, suddenly afraid of the secret she kept and how it might come between them, 'there's something I have to tell you.'

Placing a finger on her lips, his eyes told her it could wait. Nothing could be more important than this moment. They both comprehended what came next would change and entwine their lives forever.

_Later….._

Lying curled up in his arms, Mulder wanted to know more about this woman. So he asked, 'the first night we met, you spoke about an apartment in Georgetown. What ever happened?'

'As much as I'd like a nice home, in a nice neighbourhood and close to work, I barely make the rent on the studio I have,' Scully confessed. Normally she would be embarrassed by this truth. With Mulder it _**was**_ different.

'Why don't you move in here,' he asked, enjoying this pillow talk. The novel experience delighted and scared the hell out of him as he realised he actually wanted to just lay here and talk about his feelings and their combined future. Mulder wanted to pin this woman down, pin her down to him. He wanted to come home from where ever the hell the FBI chose to send him and have Scully waiting for him.

'Mulder,' rolling her eyes, a lost gesture as he lay spooning her body, Scully tried to keep the disapproval out of her tone, 'this place is barely bigger than my apartment.'

'At least it's got a lift,' he pointed out roguishly.

Using her hands to signal "whoopee do", Mulder flipped Scully onto her back so he could observe her expression in the dim light of the moon cascading though the window. His look informed her there were other apartments in the building. This silent form of communication, taken for granted, signalled a deeper understanding brought about by the incredible experience they'd just shared.

Then, suddenly the thought came to Scully, 'don't tell me you own the building as well as "Spookies Rest"?'

It started as a snigger but soon escalated to a full body laugh. Taking his time to recover, he said, 'Mulder's a Jewish name and like many Jewish families this one's not short of resources. My father might have been a disappointment to his family, loosing interest in his religion with the work he became involved in and marrying my atheist Mother but the extended family is still very well off.'

'Oh,' Scully's cheeks coloured with embarrassment, realising his family, did indeed, own this apartment.

'So, Scully,' Mulder tone teased while his intention couldn't have been more serious, 'wanta shack up with me?'

'At least I might get to see you a little more often,' Scully returned ironically, the idea taking root in her subconscious.

'I guess there's that,' he agreed easily, unable to stop himself from pushing the point further, 'when's you lease up?' Scully didn't answer immediately, so Mulder covered his tracks by adding, 'I thought that would be why you looked at the Georgetown apartment.'

'End of the month,' Scully choked out.

'I'll contact my cousin and ask if there's any chance of a two bedroom becoming available by then,' Mulder informed her easily, well aware how uncomfortable she'd become with this conversation. 'If not you can always stay here until we find something that suits the both of us.'

'I haven't agreed to this, Mulder,' Scully warned, while the rational portion of her mind catalogued the repercussions of not telling him the massive secret she held.

'Funny, sounded like you did to me,' he smirked.

_Tell him_, Scully's mind urged as his lips descended for a kiss. She knew, beyond reasonable doubt, every rational thought would leave her mind once he touched her. Mulder's hands came up to her cheeks, cupping them and giving him better access to her delectable lips. He deepened their contact and any consideration for the secret she withheld from him, flew from her mind.

Scully left very quietly the next morning so as not to disturb Mulder. They'd made love off and on several times during the night and now Dr Scully needed to make an appearance at work. Looking on his peaceful face, Scully knew she should have told him but she couldn't bring herself to do it after the events of last night. Monumental changes in their relationship remained unsaid. Had she known what would occur in the next fifteen hours, Scully would say keeping her secret might have be destined by the hand of fate.


	8. Chapter 8

_NB : I found it really hard to separate the next three chapters as they all occur at the same time. I've decided to go this way as it gives the maximum impact, you'll just have to stay with me to find out why._

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><p><strong>Please note: the following situation <strong>**is partly taken from my clinical experience. All medications, procedures and protocols are gained from Australian Hospitals and more particularly the Hospital at which I work. I have attempted to make this as "American" as possible. Please PM me if there is something you don't understand or wish to clarify and I'll attempt to help. **

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><p><strong>Day 22: <strong>**Georgetown Hospital, Emergency Room, Late Saturday Evening.**

'Dana, I know it's almost time for you to go, and you have plans, but I thought you'd like to be aware, we have an FBI agent coming in who matches the description of your friend. He's been shot and the EMT's say he's critical,' Lauren advised her colleague as she rushed to the receiving bay with her team. Scully followed to hear the rest of the story. 'A second teams brining in the other shooting victim. We really could do with your help.'

'I'll find a gown,' Scully agreed, asking over her shoulder, 'what's the ETA.'

'Dispatch says three to five minutes,' Lauren replied, smirking when the wail of an ambulance cut through the background noise of a bustling Emergency Room, 'or maybe now.'

No sooner had Scully donned protective equipment and returned to the receiving area, than the EMT climbed out of the first ambulance. Her heart in her mouth, Dana couldn't take her eyes off the Furno-Washington stretcher currently being unloaded. The image of Mulder, lying in his blood assaulted her. Déjà vu, Scully remembered telling him never to come to her ER the same weekend they'd met. That had been just three very short but very long weeks ago.

As the supine figure raced passed her, Dana took a deep breath and built up the courage to look down at the patients face. Relief flooded through her body. _Not Mulder, oh god, its not him_, she almost cried tears of relief as she fingered the cross at her throat, but the feeling might be short lived. The sound of a rapidly approaching second emergency vehicle rent the air. The cycle repeated, only this time, Dr Dana Scully looked into the pain filled face of her lover as he raced by, into the nearest critical care pod.

Reaching for her clinical shroud, she found this situation harder than any other she'd faced as a practicing medical doctor. Yet Mulder's life might depend on her ability to efficiently and correctly diagnose his major problems. Fortifying her emotions, Scully raced along side the stretcher, taking the rapid handover while nurses surrounded her. She watched dispassionately as she led the team tipping Mulder's blood soaked body to one side, and slide boards were placed under him. It gave her the ability to do her cursory visual inspection.

'On my count,' she ordered, once again taking his neck in her small hands. The job made so much more difficult by the hard collar around his neck. 'One, two, three,' and like the well trained team they were, his limp body transferred to the hard x-ray table. 'Full trauma series when you get the chance,' she ordered of the waiting radiology techs. One nurse inserted a large bore cannula in his left arm before commencing the same procedure on the other, another readied fluids and medications while a third called out vital statistics. His blood pressure too low, his heart rate too high, his respirations shallow but within normal limits, indicating a bleed somewhere but his body compensated for the loss, so Scully ordered, 'Gelo stat, get a full set of bloods, LFT's, U&E's, and cross match four units, one unit of O neg packed cells stat, group and hold in case he needs surgery. We might need plasma and platelets too. Start with 2.5mg morphine, he's still conscious and showing indicators of pain then I want a propofol infusion ready for when we need to tube him. I want a trauma, surg and neuro consult ASAP for the bullet wounds. Let's see if we can stem that bleeder on his temple and pack his abdo.'

Then she suddenly stopped, took a step back, allowing everyone to do the work they trained for. That's when she saw it, Mulder's mouth moved under the non re-breather mask covering his face. Leaning in close, Scully thought she heard him mutter, 'Sexy scrubs,' at the same moment his eyes flickered open momentarily. Unable to focus, his lids fluttered closed, hiding his hazel eyes once more.

Mentally, Scully groaned. Only Mulder could crack a joke at a time like this. He'd remembered that moment, the one where Scully had feared just this situation occurring. 'It's Ok Mulder. We'll take care of you,' she lent in close to his ear and whispered. Taking his hand and lacing their fingers, she pleaded, 'rest now. You're going to need your strength for what comes next.'

'Is that him?' Lauren poked her head round the corner from the resus pod next door.

'Yes,' Scully confirmed, breaking away from Mulder as the tech called 'X-rays'.

'Want me to take over?' Lauren asked, looking concerned.

'I got it,' Scully sighed, ensuring she maintained an adequate distance from the radiology equipment. 'The trauma teams surgeons should be here any second and he'll be going for exploratory abdo surgery if I'm any kind of doctor. All I have left to do is tube him.'

'Me too,' Lauren said, giving her colleague a quick run down on her patients injuries. 'Can you do the met and greet with the FBI. There sending some big wig over.' Waiting for Scully to give her implied consent, Lauren continued, 'then go and get changed, rest in the doctors lounge. I'll call you when he's recovering in ICU.'

'We're finished Doc,' the X-ray techs called.

'Duty calls,' Scully sighed. 'Give me three minutes to get the tube down and ensure he's adequately ventilated, check the X-rays and bloods, then I'll met with the powers that be.'

'Before or after checking with me,' the older gentleman currently examining Mulder's abdominal injuries smiled lightly. Dr Angus McTavish's expression displayed his amusement at the young doctors.

Rolling her eyes, Scully rushed to do the surgeons bidding, please the most experience member of the trauma team answered her urgent page. By the time she striped her latex gloves from her hands and her protective gown from her shoulders, Scully had all the information on both patients she needed to give an appropriate hand over to the FBI representative.

'Where are they,' a tall bald man roared as he strode through the ER ignoring the ward clerk's efforts to stop him. 'Where is my Agent?'

Holding her hand out, Scully hurried to introduce herself before this man upset every person in the vicinity. 'Assistant Director Skinner,' she offered, wondering if the man recognised her from the failed interview in January. To hell with it, Dana couldn't pass up the opportunity. 'I'm Dr Dana Scully. We met last month at the FBI. Please follow me, Special Agent Mulder and his attacker are this way.'

'Agent Mulder,' Skinners eyebrows rose in obvious surprise, 'Special Agent Fox Mulder,' he quizzed, 'you're absolutely sure you have Agent Mulder.'

'Mr Skinner,' Scully stopped, turning towards the confused man and used her very best manners, 'I have known Agent Mulder for sometime now, on a personal level. I assure you, I do know who Agent Mulder is and that he's laying in a bay in the resus area with critical injuries sustained by an unidentified male, who is currently being prepped for emergency surgery. It would appear that Agent Mulder shot his attacker in the right shoulder. Only the individual's unusual anatomy turned what should have been little more than a flesh wound into a critical injury when Agent Mulder's bullet nicked the subclavian artery causing hypovolemic shock. We expect Agent Mulder's attacker to make a full and uneventful recovery post surgery. The same can not be said for Agent Mulder.'

'What, are you trained in forensic medicine now,' Skinner couldn't stop the quip. He remembered this young woman and had been angry at the protocol forcing the bureau to reject her application.

'Yes, Mr Skinner,' Dana answered, keeping a neutral expression plastered on her face. 'Most of my residency has been in that field. I made the switch to Emergency medicine this year.' _Put that in you're pipe and smoke it_, Dana thought spitefully.

'Please tell me about Agent Mulder's injuries,' he asked, suitably rebuked.

'Agent Mulder has three bullet wounds as well as numerous defensive injuries suggesting he may have been assaulted. The neurology team has examined the head wound. The round entered the left temple, followed the anatomy of the skull and exited without damaging any bone structures. We will confirm with a CT once the exploratory abdominal surgery is complete. Two bullets entered his abdomen; one is lodged between Mulder's spleen and stomach, the other exited just above the left kidney. The general surgeons are concerned that his spleen may be compromised and peritonitis is almost guaranteed due to the damage to the descending colon and part of the small bowel.'

Skinner seemed about to add something else when a dark haired woman, toting an FBI badge made a scene. 'I have been informed by the FBI that my husband, A Special Agent, has been shot and is in this hospital. Take me to him now,' she demanded in a shrill voice. Lurching forwards, the woman caught site of Skinner. 'Skinner,' she shouted, 'where is he?'

'Agent Fowley,' Skinner attempted to calm the obviously distraught woman. 'I haven't set eyes on your husband yet. Dr Scully had just explained the situation…'

Both turned at the sound of a body hitting the floor. Dr Dana Scully lay motionless at their feet. 'Hey,' Skinner yelled, 'I think we need some help over here.'

'Dana,' Lauren shouted, attracted by the commotion and guilty that she'd all but forced her friend into this situation. She ran over to the prone figure. 'Get Dr Graham Markham down here,' she ordered the clerk, 'let him know its Dr Scully, she had an appointment with him this morning.' _You're going to kill me, Dana, for letting that cat our of the bag_, Lauren knew it couldn't be helped. 'Chelsea, Lisa,' she motioned to the nearest nurses, 'lets get her onto a gurney, cannulated, get some fluids running at 80 per hour, check her glucose levels and I'll come back as soon as I've shown these folks to their Agent.'

'Is she going to be OK,' Skinner asked, obviously concerned for the young woman.

'Dr Markham,' Agent Fowley rolled her eyes, 'he's an obstriction. What,' the woman demanded of the young doctor before her, 'is she pregnant?'

'Shit,' Skinner swore, turning to the inundated Lauren, 'where the hell is Mulder.'

_Man_, Skinner realised the ramifications of both Diana Fowley's statement and Dr Dana Scully's earlier comments about knowing Mulder personally, _what a mess_.

Lauren, on the other hand turned bright red, lead the two agents into the resus area and thought, _Dana, everyone going to know your pregnant now and it's all my fault._


	9. Chapter 9

**OK**, _**after reading you reviews, I just need to say, in chapter 5, Mulder remembers Scully saying "**_**answers were there, he just had to know where to look**_**" on the first night they met. The hints are buried cleverly, if I do say so myself, in the story which might alert you to what's going on from about the third chapter. Oh and the responses made me glad I changed the chapter order around, although I've revamped this one to make the story flow. You'll find out why in the next chapter.**_

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><p><strong>Day 22: Georgetown ER, Saturday Night.<strong>

'I'm Dr Lauren Kissic, please follow me,' Lauren said as she stood, gesturing towards the critical care pods. 'You will be able to see Agent Mulder before he goes to theatre, but only for a few minutes,' she warned. 'He won't be able to answer your questions as he has been sedated and a tube inserted down his throat to help him breath. I have to caution you, it won't be a pretty sight. The second individual found at the scene is in surgery as we speak. I'm sorry, we didn't find anything in his belongings to identify him.'

Entering the critical care pod, the female Agent rushed towards Mulder with a gut wrenching shriek. 'Fox, Fox, its Diana,' she cried, clutching his hand, tears falling down her cheeks. Turning her tearstained face to Skinner, she asked in a high voice, 'who'd do this, why would anyone attack him?'

'Diana,' Skinner rubbed his hand over his bald head in frustration. 'That is something we have to investigate.'

'Doc,' a male nurse pushed his way past the grieving woman, carrying a bright orange box which he attached to the side of gurney now holding Mulder's limp body. Fiddling with the tubing connected to Mulder's mouth, he commenced changing his patient to the transportable ventilator and monitor. 'Dr McTavish asked if Dr Scully could escort the patient up to theatre six.'

One of the junior doctors offered, 'I'll take him up, Lauren, so you can finish up with the FBI. I'll let McTavish know why Dana couldn't make it.'

Guiltily nodding her thanks, Lauren's eyes never left Dana Scully's friend and lover as the gurney commenced its journey to the operating theatre. Noting the body language of Agent Diana Fowley towards Agent Fox Mulder, she couldn't discern any overt intimacy. They shared a bond, they knew each other, Lauren suspected they may have been more than work colleagues at one time, but could there be more to this bond now? Unconvinced, Lauren kept an open mind and hope her observations were correct for the sake of her friend.

'Dr Kissic,' Skinner broke in, 'the individual you say attacked Agent Mulder, can you describe him.' Nodding, Lauren did as asked, while A.D. Skinner wrote her description in a notebook. 'Have you or Dr Scully ever seen this man before?' Skinner continued his interrogation.

Shaking her head this time, Lauren asked, 'what is all this about Agent Skinner?'

'To be honest,' glancing at Agent Fowley, he once again used his distressed gesture. Speaking in a tone too low for the dark haired female agent, lost in her thoughts on the other side of the small space to hear, Skinner continued, 'I'm not exactly sure. I didn't expect to find Agent Mulder injured. The Bureau informed me Agent Guy Hansel had been shot and admitted to this hospital. He matches the individual you described. I'd like to keep this under wraps until I'm able to gather more information.'

'May I ask the connection between Agents Fowley, Mulder and Hansel?' Lauren enquired, attempting to keep a professional demeanour.

'One is my colleague, the other my husband,' Diana, finally restored from her stupor, answered. 'I'll leave you to discover which is which,' she smiled spitefully, turned on her heal and strode towards the internal lifts. 'I'll locate the operating theatre myself, thank you, and wait for any news on the two most important men in my life. Then I'm going to find out what the hell happened.'

'Thank you Dr Kissic,' Skinner called over his shoulder as he rushed after the woman. 'Agent Fowley,' he ground out, his displeasure plain.

Letting out a sigh, Lauren returned her attention to the organised chaos surrounding her. Chelsea poked her head around the curtain surrounding Dana's cubical. 'We could use you in here, Lauren,' she said.

'Dana,' Scully heard her name called from a distance. Aware of the bright light shining in her eye, she batted it away. Next came the unusual sensation of wind on her face, well more like a gale. She attempted to lift her arm, only to have it pinned to a hard surface. 'I'm going to replace the Hudson Mask with Nasal Prongs, Dana. How do you feel,' Lauren's worried expression hovered over her.

'Crap,' she stated. Finally cognisant, Scully took in the equipment around her. The bedside monitor told her a story she didn't like.

'You've had a vasovagal, Dana,' another voice spoke slowly from the other side of the gurney.

'Dr Markham,' Scully displayed her confusion. The memories of the moments before she collapsed came back in a sudden rush. It took time for her rational mind to take stock and think logically. When it did, Scully had an overwhelming sense of frustration. Something about this situation with Mulder, the FBI agent and his injuries didn't add up.

'I'm giving you 0.6 of atropine, you should feel better when you heart rate and blood pressure increases,' Graham told his patient.

'What class of drug is that,' she asked, moving her hand slightly to cover still flat belly. Scully's memory flashed back to the night she'd met Mulder and the one following, when she suspected her child had been conceived. After talking for hours on Friday night about everything and anything, they'd fallen asleep on his couch. Mulder lived in a confirmed bachelor pad. It had taken all day to clean up his bedroom and uncover the waterbed within for their second date. This situation didn't make sense.

'Dana, stop being a doctor for a few minutes and try being a patient,' Lauren leaned in close to her ear with a wide, engaging grin. 'When you fainted, your pulse rate hovered in the low thirties, we couldn't get a decent blood pressure and your oxygen saturations dropped so low, we had to supplement with the Hudson Mask. We've managed to increase your heart rate with fluids, but you need the atropine.'

Swallowing hard, Scully put her faith in the professionals around her. Something Dana Scully hated, being forced to trust others because it made her feel vulnerable. She'd allowed Mulder so close, too close and look where that got her. Vulnerable, the least of the emotions she felt at this moment concerning_** that**_ man. Betrayed, secrets, lies, that's what their relationship consisted of, _and lets not forget the magnetic sexual attraction_, Dana mocked. Scully couldn't believe he treated her with such love and respect, only to have it fall in on her like a house of cards. How could he do it, why? No matter how she looked at it, Dana Scully couldn't find a rational basis for her feelings of betrayal_. He told me he'd never been married_, Scully recalled a snippet of conversation from that first night. Her rational head fought her emotional heart.

'Better,' Graham Markham smiled gently as he watched the monitor return her vital signs to near normal. When Scully nodded, he put on his serious doctor face, one Dr Dana Scully recognised instantly. 'I warned you, Dana, these first few weeks of a pregnancy can often be the hardest. Your body is going through rapid changes, utilizing energy at a phenomenal rate and producing large quantities of hormones. You have to slow down. I'm going to keep you in for twenty four hours observation on a monitored ward to ensure this is a one off event, then I'm recommending a weeks rest before returning to work.' Waiting to get her tactic agreement, Dr Markham continued, 'Can I contact your partner, or family and let them know you're here.'

'I…My…' words failed Scully while her ever present tears didn't. How in all the time she'd spent with Mulder could he hide a wife. He couldn't she realised belatedly, his ring finger on his left hand, the one she'd examined minutely, showed no indentation, no slight paling of the skin where a wedding ring would sit. She'd almost convinced herself Mulder had never been married to that woman.

'Dana,' Lauren lent in to give her friend a much needed hug, 'what did we learn about jumping to conclusions in Med School.' She waited for a small acknowledgement before continuing. 'It might not be what you think. Assistant Director Skinner seemed really surprised by the fact Agent Mulder had been injured. The FBI expected to find another individual entirely. And that woman, she showed concern, but more like a…friend…than a significant other.'

'Rest now, Dana,' Dr Markham agreed, 'we'll transfer you up to the ward shortly. I'll come by and see you tomorrow. We'll talk about your appointments and discharge then, OK.'

Nodding her acceptance, they left Scully to her thoughts. Something didn't sit well with this situation. Something to do with Agent Fowley and Mulder's injuries, Scully knew she didn't have that vital piece of information tying this situation together. Both her heart and mind agreed, Diana Fowley had something to hide and it had to do with Mulder's injuries.

The clock indicated a few minutes before two in the morning when an exhausted looking Lauren Kissic entered Scully's room. 'Dana,' she whispered, shaking the shoulder of her colleague. While Lauren didn't want to disturb Scully's sleep, Dana wouldn't be please if she withheld Mulder's condition from her.

'Is he out,' she demanded, groggily rubbing her eyes.

'Dana,' Lauren couldn't look her in the eye.

'Tell me,' Scully pleaded, expecting the worst. _If his spleens been compromised and Mulder's fighting infection from the intestinal wound, his chances of survival will be close to nonexistent_, Scully voiced her greatest fear, _and my child will never grow to meet it's father_.

'Mulder's still intubated and sedated but his spleen and stomach, there intact, which is the best we could have hoped for,' Lauren tried to put on a brave face. His recovery would be difficult and complex, even with this good news. 'They retrieved the first bullet easily, the other bullet caused too much trauma and bleeding to repair his descending colon immediately. He'll have a temporary loop colostomy for the next six to eight weeks before more surgery for reconnecting the bowel. Due to the risk of infection, the surgeons opted for conservative management. They took hour's lavaging his peritoneal cavity to decrease the duration and severity of his infection. He's not out of the woods yet but they've started IV antibiotics to decrease the probability sepsis. He could be intubated for a while.'

'When can I see him,' Scully asked, knowing she should stay away but realising she couldn't. What ever the connection between them, on her side at least, Dana needed to ensure Mulder's safety.

'When your arterial line comes out in the morning,' Lauren replied. 'Until then, you're stuck here so try and get some rest.'

'Have…did you hear…' Dana looked up to her friend, misery shining from her glazed eyes.

'Nothing concrete Dana,' Lauren sighed, 'Give him a chance to explain, maybe it's not as black and white as it seems right now.' Turning back, she felt impelled to ask, 'have you told him about the pregnancy?'

Shaking her head, Dana lowered her eyes, 'and I'm not sure I will any time soon, he still has months of recovery.'

'I know it's early days yet,' her friend soothed, 'you're only just five weeks, but the classic symptoms, morning sickness, fatigue, hormonal imbalance are going to start in the next week or two.'

'You mean, more so than now,' Scully rolled her eyes in exasperation.

'Yes,' Lauren giggled quietly. 'You'll have a hard time hiding it then, if the rumour mill hasn't spread it hospital wide already. Believe me, I've been through this three times. Before you ask the question your eyes are asking, I'm twelve weeks and you're the first person I've told outside the family. Personally, I'd wait at least another four to six weeks before telling anyone, if you managed to conceal it that long. We're experiencing a breather down stairs. Now that I've woken you up, why don't you ask all the questions your expression is begging to have answered.'

They spoke quietly until Lauren's pager forced her back to work ten minutes before three. Thinking she'd never sleep with the maelstrom of thoughts and feeling assaulting her mind, Scully's head no sooner hit the pillow than she fell into an exhausted, restless slumber filled with strange dreams. Dana Scully remembered only the overwhelming sense of danger from a tall dark headed woman and fear for her life, that of Mulder and their unborn child. These emotions became tempered by love and protection. Dana Scully's mind and heart became of one accord, _**Fox Mulder was not now, nor had he ever been married to Diana Fowley**_. Which begged the question, did Fowley deliberately insinuate her marriage to Mulder, or did she take the opportunity for some other nephros reason. Either way, Scully knew Mulder's life to be in danger.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Note - This chapter and the next should have come before 8 & 9 in the story line, but for effect, I changed the order. I hope this fills in a few blanks.**_

_**From End of Chapter 7, Day 22 Mulder's apartment, Very early Saturday Morning.**_

Scully left very quietly the next morning so as not to disturb Mulder. They'd made love off and on several times during the night and now Dr Scully needed to make an appearance at work. Looking on his peaceful face, Scully knew she should have told him {her secret} but she couldn't bring herself to do it after the events of last night. Monumental changes in their relationship remained unsaid. Had she known what would occur in the next fifteen hours, Scully would say keeping her secret might have be destined by the hand of fate.

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><p><strong>Day 22, <strong>**Mulder's apartment, Saturday Morning.**

Mulder woke, startled, knowing something didn't feel right. Reaching to the space beside him, Scully had long gone. Her sent remained, their entwined sent remained but the sheets no longer held any warmth. Finally, turning to look at the bedside clock, Mulder rased a hand to his eyes to keep out the full strength of the early spring sunshine cascading though his bedroom window.

_Ten in the morning, I can't remember the last time I slept so late_, Mulder's brain activated his photographic internal filing system to realise that event took place many years ago. His slumber, longer and more peaceful than he could remember since childhood, had been inspired by the women who encouraged his current train of though. _How am I going to get through the next eight to ten hours before seeing Scully again?_

Any consideration for the house chores, which usually took up the better part of his Saturday, lay forgotten for another hour as Mulder recalled every moment of last night. A smile of wonder crept across his features. Mulder told Scully he loved her, although Dana hadn't said the words, her feelings communicated themselves in each touch, each caress, each bone melting look. Mulder couldn't have been happier with his life, this ever so normal life. The one he never envisioned happening to him.

Finally calling a halt to his trip down memory lane, Mulder bounced off the bed and headed for the shower. Next he striped the bed and changed the sheets ready for tonight. He might not be much of a cook, but food seemed an essential ingredient and Mulder planed a home cooked meal in his mind. The execution might be another matter. Desert he's leave to Scully. Smiling, he counted down the hours until he'd see her again. The normalcy of his thoughts, of this aspect of his life hadn't been lost on Mulder. He chose to enjoy the foray into a world which had only been a dream until three weeks previously.

By one, Mulder had finished his meal in the Dinner across the road from his apartment. He'd just disconnected a call to his cousin, who owned his apartment building. Nothing bigger going there in the near future, so his plans need a new focus. Mulder wondered if he could find the two bed apartment Scully raved about in Georgetown. Maybe they could look next weekend. Finally, Mulder set out in search of a grocery store. Happy he'd accomplished this feat, Mulder had half filled his cart when the trouble started.

'Fox,' a familiar feminie voice called.

'Diana,' Mulder returned, a shiver of apprehension cruised down his spine. Hanging on to the handle of his trolley so he didn't have to touch her in greeting, he said, 'I didn't realise you where back in D.C.'

'Only for a few days,' she supplied, examining the man before her. Taking in the cart, its contents, his clothing, she all but purred, 'you look…..happy,'

'I am,' Mulder returned trying to keep his growing suspicions hidden behind loose body language and easy expressions. Attempting to find a way to wrap up this conversation, Diana beat him.

'So your work on the X-Files is proving fruitful,' Diana asked, as though this were normal conversation.

Mulder's internal warning system went to red alert. Curbing the truth, he informed, 'Actually, I've been back on assignment with the Behavioural Science Unit. I've got my head back in the game, Diana,' he couldn't help the dig at her failure to achieve this, 'with every intention of remaining there.'

'Oh,' she conjured surprise, 'I thought I heard something about Mermaids in Miami.'

Mulder's rich laughter turned more than a few heads in the store. 'That sounds like rappers song or a very interesting movie title.'

'Like the type you watch at three in the morning when insomnia strikes but you don't own,' she joked, still attempting to rekindle an acquaintance between them.

Mulder would have nothing to do with it. 'I have better things to do at three in the morning now, Diana,' he told her, colder than he intended because a picture of Scully, lying on his bed, where he's just placed her, assaulted his mind. Mulder knew he'd have to be extremely careful around this woman. Diana Fowley had betrayed him once, and thought he'd never find out. She'd been wrong.

'Who is she, Fox,' confused, Diana fished for information.

'Diana,' Mulder sighed, disliking his past with this woman. She'd used him to climb the ladder and he'd been young and gullible enough to believe she might just want him. 'You lost the right to know anything about my personal life.'

'I never knew anything about your personal life,' she shot back, attempting to soften the harsh word with a slight smile, 'you made it that way. Besides,' she continued in a sweeter voice, one Mulder distrusted instinctively, 'the only reason I became interested involved your discovery of the X-Files.'

'And that's all your interested in now,' he stated suspiciously. _Something off here_, his mind supplied, _and it has to do with the X-File I solved in Miami._ 'It's been nice seeing you again, Diana,' he lied.

'Fox,' she queried as her quarry moved down the isle to the pasta section and chose lasagne sheets before dropping the box into his cart. _Who ever this woman is_, she considered, _his attraction is obvious. I need to know how she's managed to settle the demons I so carefully managed to scatter into his life. How she's got Fox Mulder returning to the unit he swore sucked the life out of him. But most importantly, I need to know why his obsession with is sisters disappearance no longer drives his need to discover the truth._

'Well,' a man asked, now standing at her shoulder.

'You said he just picked up and left Miami without completing the Mermaid case,' Diana asked.

'He solved the case but left before finishing the paperwork for personal reasons,' he confirmed. 'I supplied all the information for the new X-File in New York. He didn't take the bait. Agent Myers said he rushed home to his girlfriend after she called with no intention of returning.'

'Interesting,' Dianna supplied, continuing the appearance of shopping. Carefully shadowing Mulder, she watched as he payed for his groceries and exited the building. 'Be careful,' Diana told her companion as they prepared to separate. 'Fox guards the chicken coup and his hen with everything he has.'

**Day 22: Spookies Rest, Saturday Afternoon**

'Spooky,' Kaylee greeted with an easy, teasing grin as her boss entered the bar. At four in the afternoon, the rush hour wouldn't commence for at least another two hours, giving her time to chat. 'I haven't seen you around here much lately. When we do, you're always with company and the visits are brief.'

'If this thing goes to plan, Kaylee,' Mulder returned good naturedly, 'you won't be seeing very much of me at all.'

'You're moving out, she's moving in or you both moving up together,' the blond bartender couldn't hide her pleased amusement. _About time too_, Kaylee's mind supplied.

'The last I hope,' Mulder returned with the boyish grin. 'I'm attempting to cook for Scully tonight,' he grimaced. 'Lasagne.'

'How about I get you a great accompaniment,' Kaylee scooted down to the cellar before waiting for his reply.

'I've been watching your work for sometime now, Mr Mulder,' a deep gravely voice woke Mulder from his reverie some minutes later.

'My work,' Mulder asked, instinct informed him he shouldn't turn to the direction of the voice. Glancing sideways, Mulder spied an older, dark haired man sat beside him at the far, shadowy end of the bar.

'I came to you at great personal expense, both to myself and you,' he continued quietly. 'Your life is in danger and by association, Dr Scully's.'

'How,' Mulder asked stunned. Yet knowing this meeting connected with the Diana reunion earlier in the day.

'The X-Files, Mr Mulder. I'm in a position to give you access to the truths you seek.'

'Why,' astounded, Mulder had to wonder, given his life starting to resemble something like normal, 'why now?'

'Your interest is wavering,' Deep Throat answered easily, 'and I don't want your attention distracted.'

'I won't be used as a pawn,' the anger in Mulder's tone expressed his disappointment.

'You're already being used as a pawn. Let me offer you some closure on your sister's case.' A manila envelope appeared on the bar. 'Oh, Mr Mulder, your apartments not the safe haven you believe it to be.' With that, Deep Throat sculled the remainder of his beer and walked calmly towards the door leaving an extremely mystified Mulder in his wake.

_Scully_, his mind made the connection, _that's how they know about Scully_. Snatching up the packet, Mulder tore out of the bar with his phone in his hand. Shaking his head he found the nearest pay phone six blocks away, no mean feat in this technological age where even the poorest Americans carried cells, and called the only people he could trust with Scully life.

'Langley,' Mulder demanded, 'I need you to confirm where Dr Dana Scully currently works.' _Dam, why didn't I ask last night, when I had the chance_, Mulder scolded. _Because you were to busy trying to show her how much she mattered_, his memory supplied. 'I need you to run a background on Diana Fowley, don't ask why, but concentrate on the last year since she left the BSU. I'll see you guys soon.'

Mulder looked down to the envelope in his hand. _I need to find somewhere secluded to open this_, he realised, _because the contents might just kill something in me, but before that, I need to find out how they are listening to me_.

Heading back to his apartment, Mulder tore it to shreds. He left nothing untouched. By the time he found the bug in the power socket by his desk, Mulder's home had been ransacked. Leaving it _in situ_, he grabbed his car keys and headed out to the office of The Lone Gunman.


	11. Chapter 11

**This chapter is really heavy going, please stay with it because it sets up the plot which leads to the ending.**

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><p><strong>Day 22 : <strong>**Near Georgetown Hospital, Saturday Evening**

Within walking distance of the hospital, of His Scully, Mulder found a park. In the distance he could hear and see children playing on the equipment. A smile lit his face. Would he and Scully be able to sit here, under the shade of a tree in the early spring sunshine and watch their children playing? Could he be a loving partner and doting parent? He'd never believe it possible a few short weeks ago, now, Mulder relished the opportunity.

_Looking way to far ahead_, Mulder smiled secretly. The grin faded as he fingered the packet beside him on the bench. He'd procrastinated long enough. _It's time_, he scolded, _I need to know what's in here. Maybe then I can lay my ghosts to rest and Scully and I have the chance at that normal life_.

Mulder knew it contained the final puzzle pieces. The Lone Gunmen furnished him with a dossier on now CIA Agent Diana Fowley. Recruited from college at 22, Fowley had slowly worked her way up the FBI ladder. Before becoming a field agent, Fowley took her masters level courses allowing her entry into the Behavioural Science Unit (BSU). They'd met there, two years ago. Three years Mulder's senior, she'd made no attempt to hide her attraction towards him. After the Phoebe Green fiasco, Mulder had proved a wary adversary. Still, they'd become friends and discovered their mutual interest in paranormal phenomena.

It didn't last long. Diana played the political game and she played it well. When Mulder became increasingly overwhelmed by the content of his work on the BSU, she'd followed him into the X-files. Mulder had no doubt, now, that she'd been place there to baby-sit the profiling genius and return his mind to work in the BSU.

Discovery of the Spooky reputation starting to be attached as Mulder's sidekick, Diana transferred out at the earliest opportunity. This unofficial assignment, allowing Mulder time to get his head back in the game had failed. Diana wanted out, out of the X-Files, out of the BSU and out of his life because it wouldn't lead her to the powerful position she sort. Diana told Mulder the directive came from above but, in truth, she'd requested the reassignment. While Mulder didn't feel crushed, he did feel betrayed. Mulder began to distrust everyone's motives, furthering his Spooky reputation.

In the year since, Fowley had been assigned the United States Embassy's in London, Germany and Israel working with CIA. The job came with prestige and the ability to make powerful contacts. In short, Diana played the political game and gained back her polished reputation. Now she showed up in D.C. and neither Mulder nor the Lone Gunmen could explain why or how it tied into the recently solved X-File in Miami.

Tipping the contents of the envelope out on to his lap, a dozen photos arrived before a written report. Taking them, Mulder examined each one separately. His parents, Bill and Teena Mulder holding a tightly wrapped bundle that could only be a baby. The date scrawled on the back, preceded Mulder's birth by almost two years. Two men and a woman around his families' kitchen table at Martha's Vineyard. Several photo's of the three adults laughing together along with Mulder as a child. Even in these pictures, Mulder could recognise his resemblance to the man holding a cigarette.

Several more pictures featured Teena, Samantha and Mulder shortly before Sam's disappearance. Half of the photos contained images of the Cigarette smoking man, giving the impression of the quintessential family picture. Now Mulder saw Samantha's resemblance to his biological father and his mind made the leap. Not only had he been conceived to his man, his mother's affair had lasted years, until Samantha too, had come into the world.

The final pictures astounded Mulder. Samantha at about age twelve, sombre and withdrawn, she appeared sad and haunted. Again at fourteen, this time in a hospital gown. Samantha's body laid out on a mortuary table, a fatal stab wound to her chest. The last picture featured a headstone on the grave of Jane Doe. Studying the last set of photos, Mulder looked for inconsistencies. He couldn't find any. Then he turned to the printed file.

It took nearly an hour to read. Mulder had been shocked by the information. His mind catalogued the major points.

After suffering three late term miscarriages, Teena and Bill Mulder finally gave birth to a son. He died not long after and the couple had been convinced they were genetically incapable of becoming parents. Their doctor worked for the State Department and headed government sanctioned clandestine genetic experiments. Bill Mulder's service record confirmed he'd voluntarily taken part in very early eugenics program leading him into the conspiracy and his position in the State Department. Genetic records for CG Spender established both Sam and Fox Mulder as his biological offspring and the only progeny of the failed experiment that few knew existed. As such they had been kept together and observed.

On the night Samantha disappeared, the plan had been to take both children to a clinical facility and testing commenced to establish if the eugenics program had been successful. Fox Mulder had not reacted to the drugs appropriately, forcing them to leave him after taking blood and tissue samples and implanting hazy images of faceless individuals.

As part of the process and testing, Samantha Mulder's memories had been deliberately destroyed and replaced with a fictional childhood in the Spender home. She'd been returned to her biological father for safe keeping and further analysis. Around the age of twelve, she'd started to experience flashbacks. The image of her brother, not Jeffery Spender, but another boy began to obsess her. At fourteen she escaped the Spender household firm in the knowledge she'd been abducted as a child but with insufficient knowledge of where she came from to attempt returning to her family. Turning herself into a mental institution for disturbed teens, she sort treatment to recover her memories by pretending complete amnesia.

Censured for losing the test subject, CG Spender found his daughter, three days after she had been stabbed by a psychotic patient at the asylum. Samantha Mulder lay forgotten in an unmarked grave within the ground of the institution. Spender regained his position by procuring her body for further study, leaving the world to think Samantha had been abducted, never to be found.

_Deep Throat said I've been used as a pawn_, Mulder's anger internalised. _The drugs they filled me with as a child, built the illusion of an alien abduction. My family deliberately fed my obsession in the hope I'd one day find my sister. Those charged with providing a growing child a safe, nurturing environment failed me._

Mulder placed the pictures and file back in the envelope. Leaning forward, he held his head in his hands, feeling defeated. All his searching, all his beliefs came down to this. Samantha was dead, her body used for experimentation, to understand why she survived when so many other children never had the chance at life. Genetic experimentation, just like the clinic he'd investigated in Miami.

_My link_, Mulder realised, _Miami is the link. And me. I'm the only other survivor of this eugenics program._

It made sense, his eidetic memory, his intelligence, his athletic ability. They had been bred into him. The outcome these faceless, nameless men where looking for. But they'd surpassed the original expectations because Fox Mulder hadn't been completely susceptible to the mind altering drugs they needed to abduct him. So instead they'd used his intelligence and caring disposition against him, manoeuvring Mulder into the belief that extraterrestrial existed and were responsible for the abduction of his sister.

_This experimentation still continues, legitimised by the government_, Mulder cursed.

So lost in his thoughts, he ignored the cooling night air. The playful laughter of children had long since disappeared. Even the dog walkers had returned home for their evening meal. Lights now lit the darkness as the last rays of the sun had long since sunk into the western sky. Mulder's mussing dulled his instinct. The shot rang out, forcing his mind back to the present. It had come from behind him. Not until Mulder's vision coloured red, and the pain hit, did he realise he'd been the target.

Still conscious, thanks to that genetic engineering, he pulled his weapon as he hit the floor, fighting the pain. They approached from two sides. Diana Fowley had shot him in the head, but the man standing over him pulled the trigger, empting two rounds into his abdomen. Not quickly enough to stop Mulder firing a shot of his own and see the man fall backwards. On the edge of consciousness, he heard the terrified scream of a late night jogger. Drifting in and out, Mulder caught snippets of the 911 call.

'Agent Guy Hansel, FBI,' Mulder repeated over and over until the woman understood his words. His photographic memory easily provided the name of his assailant. Then he started on the litany, 'Dr Scully, Georgetown Hospital,' to the EMT's trying to attend to his wounds.

'OK, mate,' the Australian accent attempted to calm him, 'we'll take you to Georgetown. I know you're Dr Scully, if she's on, I'll let her know you've arrived.'

Mulder allowed himself to be overtaken by the pain medication they injected into his nose. Noise, lights, sirens merged into a collage his mind couldn't separate into discrete images. Not until he saw Scully, dressed in scrubs, covered with a blue, plastic gown and delicate hands encased in latex gloves. Mulder attempted to get her attention but her concentration, focused on the handover from the ENT, made it impossible. Her single-minded professionalism directed towards his injuries, Mulder had faith in her ability to save him. Right now he writhed with pain yet felt numb. Finally, she stoped talking and she heard him. Leaning down, close to his ear, their fingers intertwined, she whispered, 'It's Ok Mulder. We'll take care of you, rest now. You're going to need your strength for what comes next.'

The darkness overcame him and he rose to meet it without hesitation. His Scully would watch over him, keeping him safe. His Scully gave him the strength to fight because he wanted a normal life after the truths he'd uncovered today. Mulder could be at peace, once he'd claimed his sister's body by replacing her headstone with one bearing her name. Deep Throats intention of offering closure backfired because Fox Mulder's reason for his obsession with the X-files had disappeared. With Scully at his side, with Scully to come home to every night, he no longer needed to look for clandestine half truths. Mulder, with the support of a loving, devoted partner would compartmentalise his work on the BSU, just as his Scully could leave her patients once she ended her shift in the ER.

His life was finally starting.


	12. Chapter 12

**Day 23: ICU****, Georgetown Hospital, Mid Sunday Morning.**

'Mulder,' Scully sat in chair beside his bed, to afraid to touch him. She'd sat there for fifteen minutes before gaining the courage to speak his name. His nurse had discreetly left the immediate area giving Scully as much privacy as possible on a very busy Intensive Care Unit.

In that time, Scully couldn't help looking at his left hand, reassuring herself that a wedding band never rested on his finger. Chewing her lip, she once again glanced at his medical records. Mulder's body responded to the broad spectrum antibiotics and his temperature, on the high side, but not dangerously so. He'd escaped sepsis, making his recovery easier than expected.

'Mulder,' Scully started again, this time gathering the courage to take his large hand in hers. 'Can you hear me?' she asked.

She got no response but then again, Scully didn't expect one. The nurse explained they had decreased his sedation in the hope of taking out his breathing tube later in the day. Scully thought it too soon, given his other injuries. His primary physician, trained in this specialty knew his job. Dr Lance Wu's reputation preceded him, as did Scully's relationship to Mulder. She'd over heard several nurses here, on the ICU flight deck and at the nursing station on her ward, talking about the fiasco in the ER last night. Although few seem to realise her faint had to do with pregnancy, they put it down to finding out about the other woman, about Diana Fowley.

'I hope your happy, Mulder,' Scully sighed with a mixture of amusement and annoyance, 'casting me as a pathetic girlfriend in this love triangle and corrupting my reputation. I'm not going to tell them the truth because they'll think I'm in denial, the way Diana Fowley has been hanging around here.'

Rolling her eyes, Scully had seen the female agent leaving Mulder's room as she exited the elevator this morning. Patrice, Mulder's nurse assured Scully the visit had been brief and she'd gained little information about Mulder's condition from the staff. It seemed the rumours worked in Scully's favour in this instance. Shanking her head, Scully heard soft footsteps behind her. Turning she noted Assistant Director Skinner walking in.

'How is he,' Skinner asked kindly, coming to stand beside Scully and placing a paternal hand on her shoulder.

'Considering what could have been,' Scully said, attempting to remove her hand from Mulder's only to find it trapped in his unrelenting grasp. 'Mulder's recovering remarkably well.'

'Dr Scully, I'd like to apologise for last night…' he trailed off.

Removing his hand, Skinner used it to demonstrate his distress by running it over his bald head in an agitated manor. He gave himself away. Skinner stood outside the room for several minutes, observing his agent and the woman with him. He forced himself inside after Scully's last statement.

'There's no need,' she reassured. 'My relationship with Mulder is solid enough to withstand the insinuations of Agent Fowley. What I don't understand is why her husband shot him.'

'The lab hasn't confirmed that yet,' Skinner gritted his teeth, knowing the test to be a mere formality.

Scully returned a polite smile and her attention back to the man in the bed. 'I don't want that woman anywhere near him under the circumstances. If you could tell the protection detail, I'd be relieved.'

Nodding, Skinner offered, 'please call me Walter.'

Turning her cerulean gaze on him, Scully examined the intent of the man before her. She indicated agreement with a slight moment of her head. 'Why didn't he have his identification or gun on him, Walter,' Scully asked suddenly. 'I know how careful Mulder is with both at home.'

Skinner's eyebrow rose as Scully realised her slip. _Well, I'm staking my claim and the last conversation we had concerned us "shacking up" together,_ Dana concluded silently.

'They've been found in a trash can on the other side of the park, no prints, no DNA,' Skinner commented, confirming Scully's opinion from Mulder's wounds that he'd been shot by two different individuals.

They settled into a companionable silence for a few minutes before Skinner abruptly remarked, 'I have to go,' and handed Scully his business card. 'I'll keep you apprised of the situation if you wouldn't mind doing the same. I can't help thinking Agent Mulder's in the best possible hands,' he added slyly.

Resting his hand lightly on her shoulder once again, Walter Skinner squeezed the flesh under his palm, hoping it communicated his support. Moving over to one of the guards on the door, he spoke quietly to them. They both turned to look at Scully before Skinner departed. Dana's attention had been totally focused on the man before her.

'Well, Mulder, you're going to have a lot to cope with when you wake up,' she told him, rasing an eyebrow in embarrassed amusement. 'Just wait until your boss realises all the implications of my choosing to move in with you. That is after I tell you.'

'Dana,' Patrice's soft voice woke Scully from her impromptu nap sometime later.

Scully attempted to straighten up from her awkward position. She'd fallen asleep, one hand engulfed by Mulder's, the opposite arm supporting her head in the crook of her elbow on his bed, inches from his shoulder. Attempting to disengage contact and stretch, Scully found the movement impossible as Mulder steadfastly refused to unlock their entwined fingers. For a man supposedly sedated, he'd made his wishes easily known.

'What time is it,' Scully yawned, doing the best she could to wipe away the cobwebs left by the short sleep.

'Time for you to be getting back to your own bed, Dana,' Graham Markham suggested allowing Scully to understand why Patrice had woken her. 'When I discovered you'd gone, that you talked one of the nurses into bringing you here, I came up to see you.'

'I need to be here,' Scully stared down her doctor and friend.

'You need to rest. You're exhausted. Sitting here isn't doing you any favours,' Graham retorted. Acknowledging the opposition in her eyes, Dr Markham continued in his sternest voice, 'don't force me to keep you in over the next week, Dana. You know I'll do it.'

'Can we compromise,' she pleaded, 'I can't leave him, I don't want too.'

'Lance Wu tells me they're planing to extubate in the next hour,' Graham considered his alternatives. 'Once he's stable, I want you back down stairs for the night. I'll see you tomorrow and we'll talk about discharging you then.'

'Thank you, Graham,' Scully replied, dismissing the man.

'Dana,' Patrice offered, 'he's been getting closer to consciousness in the hours you slept. I'm hoping Fox…'

'Mulder,' Scully automatically corrected, 'he likes to be called Mulder.'

Nodding, Patrice continued, 'I'm just going to leave you with Fo…Mulder for a few minutes while I get the equipment I need to extubate him.'

'I think I can cope,' Scully saw the irony in the nurse's request.

'I'm sure you can,' Patrice smiled broadly. 'Mind if I take time to stop at the ladies and make myself a coffee?'

'Go,' Scully waved her from the room, 'I know how hard it is to get a break in these private side rooms. There's a big red medical emergency button I can press if I need any help.'

Laughing, Patrice offered over her shoulder, 'can I bring you anything back? Coffee?'

'Tea,' Scully requested, 'weak, black.'

The moment the nurse moved beyond the door, Scully broke away from Mulder's determined clasp and lurched for the sink. Retching, just the thought of coffee turned her stomach. _And so it starts_, Scully realised, making her way to the bathroom to clean up.

Exiting, Scully demanded, 'what the hell are you doing?'

The agents at the door, alerted by her rased tone rushed into the room. Scully beat them to the young man preparing to inject a large syringe of clear liquid into one of Mulder's IV lines. Knocking the needle form his hands, Scully realised he now reached for the tube descending into Mulder's mouth. If he pulled it out before Mulder became fully conscious, Scully knew she'd only have seconds to get it back down.

Throwing her weight behind her elbow, Scully aimed for his solar plexus. He saw the blow coming and used the force of her attack to against her. Scully crashed to the ground, momentarily dazed. The assailant pushed the medical emergency bell in the hope of using the commotion to escape custody. Scully's aborted tackle gave the two FBI agents time to subdue the man, while she reached for the syringe.

'Ten to one it's filled with either potassium or insulin,' Scully broke the tense silence, slowly standing up. The room wavered and she prayed the dizziness would prove momentary. 'Either way, if Mulder got the full dose, he'd now be dead.'

All hell broke loose as medical personal responded to the incident alarm blaring throughout the unit. One of the nurses, noting Scully's pallor pushed her into the nearest chair. Dr Wu's voice demanded an explanation, which both FBI agents attempted at once while Scully offered him the syringe, a brand which hadn't been used in the hospital for years. The assailant endeavoured to use the distraction to his advantage. It didn't work. While one agent cuffed the young man, the other took the filled syringe into evidence.

The nurse kneeling before Scully pursed her lips as she noticed the hospital admission band on Dana's wrist. Taking note of her primary physicians name clearly printed on the label, she decided to do a full assessment on the patient before her. Not liking the results, she stood, whispered to a junior nurse, who turned tail and fled the room.

'Turn that propofol off,' Lance demanded while Scully's vitals were taken by the nurse. 'Let's get this tube out now. Patrice…'

'Yes, Doctor,' she replied, hands filled with a syringe, Hudson mask, oxygen tubing and suction equipment. Hearing the ruckus, she'd abandoned the coffee in favour of returning to her patient. Going to work, she turned off the syringe pump containing the drug keeping Mulder unconscious, connected the suction equipment and laid out the mask.

Three and a half minutes later, Mulder began to struggle against plastic invading his throat. 'Fox, my name is Dr Wu. You're in the intensive care unit at Georgetown hospital. We're going to take this tub out of your mouth. Nod if you understand.'

His hazel eyes flickered open, fighting the remaining sedative in his system as fear and pain washed across his features.

'Mulder,' Scully spoke into the all encompassing silence, 'I'm here, just relax, you're safe.'

Coughing, he reached for the tube. It took three staff to hold him down until Scully slipped between two nurses blocking her access to him and took his hand. Fighting her growing vertigo, she forced his gaze to lock with her blue eyes. Fox Mulder instantly settled. Closing his eyelids, Mulder tightened his grip on Scully's fingers.

'Are we set,' she asked, indicating Lance should lead the team in removing the tube.

'Scully,' Mulder croaked through his oxygen mask once the offending hose had been removed. He turned his head to look at her now he could breathe independently.

'Shhh, Mulder,' rasing her hand to his forehead, she gently stroked his hair, 'you're safe.'

'Don't leave me, Scully,' he pleaded.

'Only if you promise to rest,' she teased lightly.

'I though that was my line,' Graham Markham commented sarcastically from the door jam. 'You might as well arrange for another bed, Lance. Dr Scully's heart monitor has been alarming in the telemetry unit for the last five minutes. Personally, I'm surprised she's still able to stand,' he fired at his patient. 'Would someone mind connecting my patient to a bag of five percent glucose and run it over the next eight hours please,' he eyed the young nurse who had drawn the short straw in contacting Dr Markham. She rushed out to do his bidding. 'I believe you'll find a cannula in her left arm.'

'Scully,' Mulder demanded her attention. His memory of the last twenty four hours rushed back, at least the parts in which he hadn't been chemically sedated. Worry filled his expression as the doctor's words finally became clear. He became conscious of the hospital gown clothing Scully instead of her regular scrubs. She looked fatigued. Adding the facts together, Mulder realised Scully's tenure in the hospital as a fellow patient.

Appreciating his apprehension, Scully once again couldn't stop the tears.

'I'm pregnant, Mulder,' she stated softly in the presence of at least ten colleagues, before collapsing in the chair she'd so recently vacated. 'Someone hand me a bucket,' she pleaded as her head swam and bile burnt the back of her throat.


	13. Chapter 13

**OK all the action's over, now we get back to the touchy feely stuff and MSR. I hope you enjoy and I haven't lost too many along the way. Mulder's injury serves a higher purpose as you'll discover in the next few chapters. Oh yeah, a review or two would just make my day…..LOL.**

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><p><strong>Day 22: <strong>**Missy's Apartment, Saturday Night.**

'Mom,' Melissa's premonition of danger overwhelmed her. After closing her shop at 5pm on Saturday evening, she'd felt the irresistible desire to call her sister. Dana's cell phone went straight to message, implying she hadn't finished work. Now after nine at night, Missy called her mother as the feeling of danger increased. 'Have you heard from Dana today?'

'She rang yesterday when she managed to get a break,' Maggie volunteered, always on alert when one of her daughters, especially this one, enquired about the other. 'Why?'

'I've got a feeling, Mom,' Missy answered, 'did Danes tell you what she's up too this weekend?'

Laughing, Maggie answered happily, 'Fox came home from a case in New York yesterday. Dana planed to spend time with him, at least the hours away from the hospital. She's under the impression he needs to return to New York Monday morning to finish off the investigation. I know Dana didn't seem happy because she has days off early next week and it looks like he'll be in another city.'

'Oh,' Missy considered this new information. Biting her lip, she hoped her next question wouldn't come as a complete surprise to her family. 'Has Dana told you if she'd pregnant?'

'What makes you think your sisters pregnant,' Maggie hedged, wondering at Melissa's intuition. Dana's fatigue and emotional behaviour over the last weeks hinted at something. Margaret Scully's mind considered the situation and decided Missy might just have the answer.

'I feel it,' Missy answered, 'but…there's something, a connection to Fox that's almost crushing. Mom, it's strange. I can see their auras, they meld together the way people in love should. But I've never experienced anything like those two before. That's why I missed it at first. When you brought Dana to the shop, I thought I imagined it. I'm so happy she's finally found someone compatible. The next day I watched them together in the kitchen and I felt it again, only stronger, so much stronger. I misinterpreted because there is a third aura, part of both of them, it links them spiritually. The only way I can account for it, is a pregnancy.'

'They've only been dating a few weeks. If your sister is pregnant,' Maggie considered the ramifications, 'it must be very early days.'

'That's what's so strange, Mom,' Missy told her mother in a confused voice, 'this sprit shouldn't exist independently until the babies born. Right now it should be encompassed in Dana's aura, yet this child is reaching out to its parents and creating such a bond between them.'

'You only need to see the two of them together to realise the bond they share,' Maggie agreed. Her motherly instinct working overtime, she asked sagely, 'there's something else, isn't there,' as a shiver of apprehension ran the length of her spine.

'I think Fox is in trouble, Mom,' Missy couldn't help the sense of for brooding, 'I believe his life's in danger. I've called Dana's cell a dozen times this evening, but all I get is her answering service.'

'Well,' Maggie weighed up her options, 'I'll try calling her again tonight. She may not be picking up if she's with Fox, after all it's been a week since they've seen each other. If we don't hear by tomorrow, I'll call the hospital and have her paged. Dana will be on day shift. Until then Melissa, remember no news is good news.'

As Missy hung up, she couldn't help disagreeing with her mother. By tomorrow, this thing she imagined would have played out. _I'm going to call you every hour on the hour, Dana, until I get a hold of you_, she promised.

**Day 23: Scully Home, Sunday Morning**

'Mom,' Missy danced through the front door of her family home. Her parents, brother and his family attended to Church together every Sunday morning. Forced to wait until they gathered for the traditional Sunday roast lunch, Missy approached her mother in the large, homely kitchen. 'I haven't managed to get hold of Dana, have you called the hospital?' Melissa enquired, her apprehension reaching an all time high

'Yes,' Maggie answered, rolling her eyes accompanied by an expression reminiscent of her youngest daughter. Bill and Margaret Scully had pulled up in the driveway less than fifteen minutes ago. Bill, Tara and the children would arrive soon. So far, Maggie had managed to turn on the oven and start dressing the chickens. Looking at the pile of vegetables still needing attention, she pointed to them, hoping Missy would take the not so subtle hint. 'I had Dana paged at eight O'clock this morning.'

'Did you speak to her,' Missy continued, peeler in hand, hovering about a potato.

'No, Lauren Kissic, the night resident said she hadn't handed the pager over to your sister. When things quieten down, she promised to get Dana to call us,' Maggie answered, 'apparently it's been extremely busy. Lauren sounded tired and said she'd been forced to do overtime.'

'Mom, something wrong,' Missy told her mother in a very quiet, very serious voice. 'I feel it. Dana's in trouble and so is Fox.'

Examining the fear and apprehension in Melissa body language, Maggie caught her daughter's distress. Yet she need to give Dana the opportunity contact them when she felt ready. If Missy's guess about her sisters' pregnancy proved correct, Dana need time to come to terms with it, and tell Fox. Maggie Scully knew these things couldn't be hurried, especially when they concerned Dana.

Making her decision, one which wouldn't entirely please Melissa, Maggie said with determination, 'I'll call again after lunch, at three O'clock, _**if**_,' she stressed the word, 'Dana doesn't call first.'

'You know I'm not going to rest until I hear from her,' Missy glared at her mother. 'I can't help it Mom, it's the way I feel.'

'Feel all you like, Melissa,' Maggie's use of her daughters first name told her this conversation had ended, 'but I'll hear no more about it. My decision stands.'

Missy fidgeted the entire time she helped her mother and eventually Tara peel and cut vegetables to accompany the roast chicken. When the kitchen had been cleaned, she joined the children in the back yard, attempting to burn off excess energy. Only partially successful, Melissa's unusual behaviour at the dinner table drew stares from her father, brother and sister-in-law. As the adults enjoyed the last of their wine before recalling the children for desert, Missy's attention became consumed by the second hand on the grandfather clock.

_Only an hour until I can remind my mother of the time_, Missy reflected.

'Melissa,' Bill Sr demanded, 'didn't you hear me? What's the matter?'

Maggie's glare commanded she curb the truth. Caught between her parents, Missy shrugged her shoulders not wanting to cause a family rift. Yet she couldn't shake this oppressive feeling of impending doom.

'Does this have something to do with Dana and her boyfriend,' Bill Jr enquired. 'I don't know if I like that man, he far too familiar with Dana and they've only been dating a few weeks.'

'I believe, son,' Bill Sr added, 'we'll be seeing a lot more of that young man in the future. Starbuck seems taken with him.'

'You can say that again,' Missy muttered under her breath, relieved the subject had finally been raised.

Sitting on her left, Tara overheard and asked, 'why do you say that, Missy?'

'Because I believe,' pausing at her mothers pleading look, Missy changed her mind and continued with, 'Fox Mulder will be one of the family by June, if I read my sister correctly.'

'You think he's serious enough to ask Dana to marry him, on such a short acquaintance?' Tara appeared shocked, yet she'd learnt to trust Missy's new aged intuition. It proved correct more times than Tara could count.

'You and Bill met and married within three months,' Maggie reminded.

'That's different,' Bill Jr defended, 'my posting to a war zone came through. We didn't have much choice, I went to sea for seven months.'

'No, you didn't have much choice,' his father chimed in, 'as I remember you only just made it home for your eldest son's birth.'

'Are you suggesting my baby sisters up the duff to this guy she's only known a few weeks,' enraged, Bill scrunched the napkin in his lap and threw it onto the table in disgust. 'Some father he'll make. An FBI field agent. Dana will be for ever worried that he'll go to work one day and not come home.'

'How's that any different from you,' Tara inserted calmly, shocking Bill Jr into silence.

'No one's suggesting anything,' Maggie's voice demanded an end to this discussion, 'and we don't talk about people not present, especially when they're not here to defend themselves.'

**Day 23: ICU Georgetown Hospital, Sunday afternoon.**

Waiting for the medical staff to clear the room, Mulder turned his face to observe his Scully. He didn't much like what he saw. Dark circles under her eyes stood out on a pale face, making her look more fatigued than Mulder suspected she actually felt. Patrice continued to fuss around him as another nurse entered the room. She attended to Scully's needs. He must have dozed. When he woke, Scully reclined in a comfortable looking chair. Watching her, Mulder waited until she turned her cerulean gaze toward him.

'Scully,' Mulder mumbled thought the mask on his face, determined to have this conversation even though his mind begged him to sleep. 'You're pregnant?'

Shaking her head, she could feel the nausea subside as the glucose mixture snaked down the IV line into her vein. 'We're pregnant,' she corrected, wanting no mistake as to the paternity of her child. 'I only found out on Wednesday. I had one of my colleagues take the blood sample.'

'Why didn't you tell me,' Mulder asked, attempting to stay alert given the large amount of pain medication circulating in his system.

'I tried too,' Scully whispered, knowing she should have tried harder.

Mulder's mind searched for the memory. Finding it, he uttered, 'I stoped you.'

Nodding in conformation, Scully had to ask, 'how do you feel about this?'

Letting out a small chuckle, Mulder announced, 'before Diana Fowley and her partner shot me….'

'Diana Fowley shot you,' Scully interrupted, unsurprised by this information. It explained so much, especially the woman's inferring a close and personal relationship to Mulder. _And maybe even the last attempt on his life_, Scully realised.

'Later,' Mulder promised, reaching out a hand. He needed to feel her, have her small fingers wrapped around his in a gesture of comfort. Mulder needed Scully to complete him. In clasping his hand, Scully closed the circuit which was _**them**_. 'While I sat on a park bench, under a tree, I watched some children playing on the equipment. I wondered if we could ever be that normal, taking our kids to play at the park on a Saturday afternoon. I thought it way too soon to consider it, especially after the truths I discovered yesterday afternoon.'

'Mulder,' Scully found tears welling at the corners of her eyes. 'I didn't know how much I wanted this, until I saw you on the gurney. Until I thought I'd lost you. I don't understand what happened. Why did Fowley shoot you? You're not even on a case.'

'Later, Scully,' Mulder promised. The ringing of a phone in the room saved him from saying more. He needed to sit Scully down and tell her about the genetic experiments. His Scully would understand the ramifications of his genome and any effect it might have on their child. Mulder could only hope it didn't change anything between them. He needed Scully and normal like he'd never needed anything before.

'Mom,' Scully's voice broke Mulder's introspection.

'Dana,' the concern in Maggie's voice communicated to her daughter with the single word. 'I've been transferred around the hospital looking for you. The nurse said you're a patient in the ICU. Honey, what's happened?'

'I fainted in the ER last night,' Scully informed her mother in as calm a tone as she could manage. 'I'm only in the ICU because Mulder's been injured, so they transferred me to be with him.'

'You fainted, Dana,' Maggie's attention focused only on her daughter.

Maggie's voice rose in volume with each word. Mulder heard most of the conversation and understood her worry. Squeezing Scully's hand, he said, 'tell her, she's your Mom.'

'You're with Fox,' Maggie asked on hearing his voice.

'Yes, Mom,' she answered, placing her hand over the receiver and whispering, 'I don't want to tell her over the phone.'

'They need to know, Scully,' Mulder said logically, 'she's you Mom and she's worried about you.'

Nodding in agreement, Scully said, 'Mom, I fainted because we're pregnant.'

'Thank god,' Maggie let out a pent up sigh. 'Missy thought so. But, Dana, how badly has Fox been injured to be in the ICU?'

Turning to look at her lover, Dana smiled. He'd finally given into the analgesia and fallen asleep, his hand still interlock with hers. 'He's fine Mom, tomorrow they'll be moving him to a general ward,' she said, glancing at the clock. 'Is the family still there?'

'Yes,' Maggie agreed, 'why?'

'Maybe you and Missy could come and see me,' Scully bit her lip. 'There's so much I want to talk about.'

'I though you'd never ask,' Maggie once again sighed. 'We'll be there in half an hour.'


	14. Chapter 14

**Day 23: ICU****, Georgetown Hospital, Sunday Evening.**

Consciousness came and went. Mulder's mind caught snippets of what occurred around him. Maggie and Missy knocked lightly, disturbing his sleep. _I'm glad Scully's family came_, he thought before the waves of fatigue and pain claimed him.

'How does Fox feel about it?' Maggie Scully asked her daughter at some indefinable time later.

Scully hesitated in her answer, 'We haven't had a chance to talk about it. I'm not sure he's capable of understanding the implications at the moment.'

_Yes, yes I am Scully_, Mulder wanted to join the conversation, but sleep and the pain medications once again threatened to claim him. In a final effort to communicate, he flexed his fingers still encasing Scully. Trying to tell her everything would be fine, normal between them. _We're going to have 2.2 kids, live in the burbs, come home at night and walk the dog_, Mulder promised, _the great America dream and normalcy_.

'Mulder,' Scully turned to him, a concerned look crossing her face.

Those big blue eyes saw through him, calmed him and sent Mulder back into his dreamless world with the realisation he'd missed the point entirely. The Scully family inclusion and concern for him bordered on insane. For the first time in years, Fox Mulder felt integrated into a family, Scully's family and, as soon as he became well, he'd make it his family too. His legal family.

'Dana,' Missy asked, looking concerned, 'how long will he be like this?'

'At least three or four days,' Scully answered, returning her attention to her mother and sister. 'Mulder's been very lucky. Now it's just going to take time to heal. He's not going to like the weeks of convalescence or the months of riding a desk at the FBI. He might even be forced to retire on medical grounds.'

'Can they do that,' Maggie asked, astounded.

'Mom,' Dana sighed, 'for at least the next two months, Mulder is going to have a colostomy bag.' Lifting the bed covers, she showed then the little device collecting his digestive waist. 'Mulder won't be allowed back to Field Agent Status until that has gone and completely healed. The doctor's intend to repair it at some time in the future, meaning another hospital stay and more time away from work. Apart from a few scars, his recovery should be complete. But I don't know how long that will be. Right now we can only take one day at a time.'

'What about you, Dana,' Maggie asked with worry. 'By the sounds of it, this pregnancy is going to be difficult.'

Nodding, Scully once again took her time answering. 'When Mulder's back to normal,' she couldn't help an internal laugh at the thought. _Since when has our relationship been normal?_ 'We'll sit down and make some decisions. Dr Markham has arranged a week off work and I need to see him on Friday. I don't know if I can continue in the ER, it takes too much out of me. And…' biting her lip, Scully looked down to their interlocked fingers, before confessing, 'Mulder asked me to move in with him, before all this happened, before he knew about the pregnancy. He…he wanted to move into a bigger apartment, together.'

'Dana,' Missy reached out to her sister both spiritually and physically, 'he want's you, Fox loves you, independent of your child,' rolling her eyes at her sisters lack of emotional intelligence, Missy continued, 'I could see it when you came to "Strange Encounters" a couple of weeks ago. I felt it on the night of your birthday. I heard it when I spoke to Fox on the phone. Don't make more or less of this than it is. You love him too.'

'It's just so quick, too quick,' Scully cried, confused.

'You're over analysing it,' Missy offered softly. 'Bring it back to basics, Dana. You love him, he loves you, you're going to live together and rase a child.'

'You make it sound so simple,' Dana whished she could have Missy simple faith.

'It is Dana,' Maggie agreed. 'While this thing between you and Fox may have happened hastily, don't underestimate the bond you share. Bill and Tara's marriage started much the same way. They are still together eight years later. You said he might be the One, take the chance, open you heart, fully, without reservation. Your love needs to be unconditional for this to succeed.'

'You're sounding just like Melissa,' Scully attempted though her mixture of laughter and tears. So many emotions assaulted her. Dana needed time to sort through them, in spite of Missy's cautions and her mother's words, Scully needed to analysis them, distil them into the truth. In the end, she suspected she'd find out logically, rationally exactly what her mother and sister knew instinctively. Dana Scully needed stop allowing her mind to overrule her heart. _But that comes later, when I'm alone_, Scully fortified her defences, took a deep breath and asked in an attempt to change the subject, 'were Bill, Tara and the kids at lunch.'

The pair conspired, Scully saw the look pass between them. If it had to do with Bill and his over protective brotherly instincts, Mulder would soon be in trouble. Searching her sisters more open gaze, Dana knew they weren't telling her something. 'What?' she demanded.

'Missy suspected your pregnancy,' Maggie soothed.

'Your aura, Dana,' Missy attempted to explain.

Rolling her eyes in exasperations, Scully understood, 'you discussed my relationship at the dinner table. Did you have to tell Bill, Missy? As if Bill didn't take an instant dislike to Mulder. With this news, any chance of them becoming friends is almost impossible'

'Scully,' Mulder broke in, he'd been awake long enough to hear her prognosis of his career and her family recognise the significance of their relationship. It had taken all his mental will power to remain lucid. The conversation had been worth the effort. 'I love you.'

Reaching over to the bed, cupping her hand around his cheek, Scully answered, 'I know,' in the softest voice. The expression in her blue eyes softened and the confession torn from her lips, 'I love you too.'

'Marry me,' the words came out more as a statement of fact than a question.'

'Mulder,' Scully turned to him in astonishment, her pupils dilating. 'We'll talk about it later, when you're feeling better.'

'Scully,' Mulder's expression contained a mixture of annoyance, humour and seriousness. 'Can't get down on one knee,' he attempted in a teasing tone.

'It's too….' She didn't get the opportunity to say more.

'Yes or No, Scully,' Mulder asked determinedly. He wouldn't let this go until he got an answer, the one he wanted.

If he'd asked before expressing his love, her rational mind would have won the battle. Because Mulder had put his degree in psychology into action, Scully knew she'd been slightly manipulated. Her heart broke into a million pieces because this man knew her like no other. 'Yes,' the tears she'd been able to keep at bay suddenly broke, as Scully realised how happy she felt. By the time she wiped the fluid from her eyes, Mulder had returned to the land of sleep.

Awareness, danger, Mulder reached for his gun and groaned in pain. Letting out a grunt, the manliest noise he could under the circumstance, the throbbing reminded him of his injuries. A sense of fear and vulnerability swept over him as two men approached his supine position. He felt defenceless and unable to protect his Scully. Glancing toward her, Mulder realised she slept soundly in the chair beside his bed.

'Easy, big fella,' the one dressed as a nurse pacified, 'I'm Garry, your nurse. This is Dr Markham, Dr Scully's Obstetric Consultant.'

Mulder looked from one to the other, realising their quiet conversation had teased his senses into full consciousness. Both wore official looking hospital badges. Yet, Mulder couldn't get the premonition of danger out of his mind. Attempting to shake the cobwebs created by medication, his adductive reasoning failed him.

'Graham,' Scully sounded as thought she just woken. She obviously knew the man which went a long way to calming Mulder's nerves. 'What are you doing here?'

'Usually, Dr Scully,' he quipped easily, 'I do my rounds of my patients at six in the evening.' Looking at his watch, informed his patient and friend this visit was official. 'I've just come from radiology,' he hesitated, 'where I managed to organise a PV ultrasound first thing tomorrow morning.'

'Special dispensation for staff?' Scully returned, intrigued by the need for the test so early in her pregnancy. Mulder's mind must have mirrored her thoughts, because he reached a hand towards her, seeking and giving reassurance and comfort. 'It's a little unusual, unless the pregnancy is the result of IVF.'

'I need to discuss the results from your blood test yesterday,' Graham commented. 'Are you sure about the date of your last menstrual cycle?'

'Absolutely,' Scully told him in a determined tone.

'From the blood I took yesterday and the results from last Tuesday,' instantly alert, Scully moved into an upright position, 'and given you're only just five weeks...'

'Five weeks,' Mulder cut in, looking at Scully in askance.

'By the time we conceived this little miracle,' Scully couldn't stop the mischief entering her eyes, knowing she'd never let him live this down, 'medically speaking, I was already two weeks gone.' Confusion greeted her words. 'Pregnancy starts at the end of a woman's last bleed, not the act of conception.'

'Oh,' he grinned, slightly embarrassed.

'So defiantly five weeks,' Dr Markham considered, adding the results to the test Dana brought him from last Tuesday. 'Well, given your early symptoms, high HCG levels and the vasovagal's I can only assume are hormone related, I think we might be looking at a multiple pregnancy. The scan tomorrow will confirm how many embryos you're carrying.'

'Twin's,' Mulder asked, his mind rapidly integrating the information he discovered about himself in the last two days. Somehow, the news of Scully's pregnancy and possibility of twins didn't surprise him. He'd have a lot to explain to Scully. Mulder only hoped she'd understand.

'I'd bet triplets at this point,' Graham grinned as Scully slumped into back into her chair, 'but we won't know until tomorrow. Even it there are three, the chance of losing one before twenty weeks is very high,' he cautioned, 'but you have youth on your side.'

Realising the importance of the Doctors last statement, Mulder had to ask, 'Scully, when I came in, did I have an envelope with me?'

Not understanding what this had to do with the discussion, Scully closed her eyes, picturing that ghastly scene, which would forever haunt her dreams and shook her head. 'I don't think so. We didn't go through your clothing because I made a positive identification. There wasn't any reason to look at your belongings.'

'Where are my clothes,' Mulder insisted getting uptight.

'Here, Fox,' Garry held up a plastic bag.

'Mulder,' Scully told the nurse kindly, 'he prefers to be called Mulder.'

'In the back pocket, Scully, look in the back pocket,' he'd become agitated. Standing up, she placed a gentle hand in the middle of his chest and pushed Mulder back into his pillows. Her eye's promising to do as he asked. When she found the pictures and turned them over to read the inscription on the back, her features paled. An alarm started, drawing the attention of the nurse, who pushed Dana back into her seat.

'Have you got atropine ready,' Dr Markham asked the nurse, unsurprised by this event. _It just proves my suspicion of a multiple birth on the way_.

'Top draw of the trolley,' Garry stated, already taking her blood pressure. '80/45, pulse steady at 40,' he stated, a look of concern covering his features. 'Are you feeling symptomatic Dr Scully?'

Clutching the photos, Scully bit her lip and nodded. Her head swam from the shock of seeing a teenaged Samantha Mulder. He'd found his sister, found she been murdered years after her abduction. Scully knew, without a doubt these photos were the reason behind his near fatal injuries. Unable to stop her train of thought, the monitor let out a high pitched wail as Dana found herself losing hold of reality as darkness descended. Reaching up, Garry took the syringe from the doctor and plunged the contents into Scully's IV.

'If I was a betting man,' Dr Graham Markham grinned to the frantic man in the bed, 'I'd be putting my money on triplets, Mr Mulder.'

'Mulder,' Scully spoke breathlessly, her heart rate and blood pressure still recovering but at least she'd managed to return to the land of the living. 'My mom's a twin. Mom's family came from Ireland and multiple pregnancies run in the genes. My maternal grandmother had two sets of twins and three of my cousins have had multiple births. Anna married an Irishman and delivered two sets of identical twins in a single birth.'

Laughing, Graham explained to a perplexed Mulder, 'the Irish are well known for multiple births. Women can produce two ova in a single cycle and if both are fertilized, you get non-identical twins. If a single ovum cleaves into two discreet embryos after fertilization, you get identical twins. Dr Scully's cousin had both types of twins in a single pregnancy. Let's just hope you don't have the same. Then again, you get an instant family. Luck of the Irish,' he quipped before leaving.

'Thank god,' Mulder muttered under his breath, 'I though this might be due to me being the central character and only survivor in a clandestine eugenics program.'

Scully had heard Mulder. The look she gave him promising they'd discuss this later and she wouldn't be content until the whole story had been exposed.

* * *

><p><strong><em>OK, I'm offically begging, reviews...please.<em>**


	15. Chapter 15

**Day 23: ICU****, Georgetown Hospital, Late Sunday Evening.**

Frustrated but not surprised, Fowley attempted once again to get past the nurse blocking the entrance to the ICU. So far she'd been unsuccessful, but determination counted for a lot. 'Fox Mulder,' she stated in a calm and reasonable tone, 'I'd like to see him.'

'Ms. Fowley,' Diana knew the lack of her title Agent meant the medical personnel closed ranks to protect their patient, 'you're _**husband,**_ Agent Hansel, is now on the fifth floor. Mr Mulder is unable to accept visitors at this time.' The nurse met the woman's steely determination with an irresistible force. After the attempt on this particular patients life, and the true nature of the relationship between the FBI agent and Dr Scully became know, the staff chose to freeze this woman out.

'Could you at least tell me how he is,' she attempted a softer tone. 'We've worked together at the FBI for several years.'

'The patient is stable,' the nurse said, bringing this conversation at an end. 'If you don't leave I'll be forced to have you removed.'

Nodding her understanding, Fowley reached for the button to call the elevator. Cataloguing the events of the last day, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle finally dropped into place. Yesterday, at the supermarket, Diana suspected a new woman in Mulder's life and he'd all but confirmed it. Hansel couldn't find any evidence to corroborate the identity of Mulder's lover after following him. By the time Fowley broke into Fox's apartment, someone had been there first.

Who ever watched Fox Mulder planted a bug in his apartment, and it appeared someone else had gotten to him first. In all that mess, she'd been unable to find a trace of his woman. The less she found, the more Diana became convinced this woman existed and she needed to find her identify. Somehow this woman became the key to unlocking Mulder's demons.

Then Hansel lost Mulder. Hansel swore his quarry suspected a tail after leaving his apartment yesterday afternoon. It had taken a call to her sponsor to triangulate his coded FBI cell phone and locate him at a park close to this hospital. When they found him, all hell broke loose. Mulder sat in a secluded corner, looking at the secret file detailing his family's involvement in the conspiracy. Diana had her orders for just such a situation and she'd acted.

He hadn't died, hadn't come close to dying. Then the attending in the ER fainted at Skinner's feet when Diana used the situation to claim a close, personal relationship with her patient, followed by calling an obstriction to consult. Diana thought it strange at the time, this coincidence. Until Diana Fowley closed her eye and pictured the diminutive doctor lying at her feet.

'Oh,' she realised the significance of the small silver fox's inhabiting the woman's earlobes. Now she realised why the medical personal in the hospital suddenly froze her out. They protected on of their own from an outsider. Diana planed her next move. She needed proof of her suspicions. Not hard to gather when the ER doctor's specialist held offices on the second floor.

'Fox Mulder a father,' Diana couldn't stop the internal giggle, yet this new information complicated her mission.

Fox Mulder, the only survivor to reach adulthood from the first round of covert genetic experimentation, would become a father. The good doctor hadn't yet begun to show, so Diana knew the pregnancy to be in its initial stages. If this child survived, it would be the only second generation progeny. This new information changed the game. It culminated the work of fifty years of secret eugenics.

Entering the lift, she descended three levels. Less than ten minutes later, she'd copied Dr Dana Scully's medical records. Conformation of the pregnancy and testimony that Mulder had fathered her child, Diana re-entered the lift. This time she rode to the basement. Unable to find samples of Dr Scully's blood containing her DNA, Fowley returned to the lobby. Once clear of the doors, she opened her disposable cell and pushed the button to a fixed dial number.

'Yes,' came the gravely voice, a puff of the ever present cigarette followed.

'Second generations on the way,' she supplied.

'Thank you,' he returned, 'and just as well Dr Scully managed to foil an attempt on Mulder's life this afternoon. It appears we may have a use for him in the future.'

She's screwed up again, even if it wasn't really her fault. One mistake might be tolerated, but two? She'd been hauled over the coals, almost losing her chance at cementing her position with in the conspiracy by leaving Mulder alone with the X-Flies and failing to tempt him into a life long relationship. Diana Fowley had paid a high price over the last year by being condemned to novice assignments in far flung locations.

Now she'd botched the attempt to end his life. In organising a second attempt which his lover managed to foil, she discovered Fox Mulder impending parenthood. The cigarette smoking man wanted his son to produce an heir, but he'd wanted to choose the mother of his grandchild. Diana Fowley had been given that role because of her compatible genetics. As she walked away from the hospital, Fowley came to the realisation her time in this world was limited. Her usefulness had ended. She'd played the power game and lost.

**Day 24****: A.D. Skinner's Office, Hoover Building, Monday Morning.**

'Dammit, Dr Scully's right,' Skinner looked at the report in his hand.

The Agents protecting Mulder had rushed the syringe to the lab Sunday evening then spent hours questioning their suspect. Given the suspicion of Dr Scully, Penndel identified a massive dose of fast acting insulin. Given Mulder's size, the shear dose of drug would've lead to coma and cardiac arrest within five minutes of the contents entering his blood stream.

'Why is someone trying to murder my agent?' Skinner asked the empty room. Picking up the second report, he analysed the ballistics' information stating Mulder had been shot by two assailants. The round from his abdomen matched Agent Guy Hansel weapon. The head wound from an unknown gun. 'It still doesn't answer why?'

The insistent shrill of his phone stopped Skinner's internal conversation. 'Skinner,' he barked into the receiver, wondering why his secretary let this call thought without screening.

'Assistant Director,' the well cultured voice on the other end of the line belonged Section Chief Albans, 'I need to see you in my office.'

'Yes, Sir,' Skinner wiped his suddenly perspiring brow.

'Walter,' the soft tone implored, hinting there could be more, so much more to this, 'bring what ever you have on the incident between Agents Mulder, Hansel and Fowley.'

'Sir,' Skinner asked.

'Will five minutes be enough time,' Albans asked.

'I'm heading up now, Sir,' Skinner gathered together the scattered notes and replaced the receiver in its cradle, wondering what this could possibly be about.

Agents Andrews and Cannone waited restlessly on the black leather couch when Skinner entered the Section Chiefs office. After a few polite words in greeting, Albans asked his personal assistant to deliver coffee as he took several files from her. Leading Skinner towards the couch to join the other agents, Albans made small talk until the coffee arrived. Once his assistant left, he started.

'Assistant Director Skinner, I take it you know Agent Andrews from the VCU and Agent Cannone from IA.' Pleased with the positive response, he let out a sigh. 'We need to keep this as low profile as possible. I'm aware Special Agent Mulder is currently recovering from an attempt on his life at Georgetown hospital and a second attempt foiled. What I can't understand is why his next of kin still hasn't been notified?'

'Sir,' Skinner felt confused, 'Agent Mulder's,' he hesitated wondering how to classify the relationship between Dr Scully and his rogue agent. Taking a deep breath, he continued, 'I believe Agent Mulder may have neglected to update the personal details in his file. I believe his Mother is no longer his next of kin,' Skinner attempted. This snippet of information forced a grunt from Albans and a smirk from the other agents. 'His…the woman he's involved with is a doctor at the hospital. Dr Scully identified Agent Mulder in the ER and attended his injuries. I didn't feel the need to contact any other family members.'

'I see,' Albans quite obviously didn't, shaking his head at the thought of Spooky Mulder living with a woman seemed absurd, although he couldn't quite work out why. 'I believe there is proof Agent Mulder's injuries were caused by another Agent?'

'Yes, Sir,' Skinner handed over the ballistics report. 'The the round from his abdomen is a match for Agent Guy Hansel's weapon. The second wound's entry and exit came from the same calibre of handgun and we suspect Agent Hansel shot Agent Mulder twice in the stomach at close range. However the head injury,' throwing his hands in the air, he continued, 'appears to be from a second assailant.'

'Agent Andrew's, you were on protection detail Saturday,' Albans asked the man sitting to Skinner's left.

'Yes, Sir,' squirming in his chair, the Agent looked to Skinner before telling the story. 'Dr Scully came up to see Agent Mulder. She hadn't left his side for hours. I guess she needed to use the bathroom. When she came out she screamed at a young doctor about to inject medication into Mulder. Then Dr Scully attacked him, he dropped the syringe and attempted to pull Mulder's breathing tube out. We apprehended the suspect and questioned him last evening.'

'What aren't you telling me about the relationship between Agent Mulder and Dr Scully?' Albans quirked an eyebrow at A.D. Skinner and Agent Andrews.

Sharing a silent moment of communication, Skinner answered, 'I only have suspicions, not concrete evidence.'

'At this point A.D. Skinner,' reminded Albans, 'all information about Mulder's life is considered important and therefore worth investigating.'

'I suspect Dr Scully's pregnant to Mulder, Sir,' he forced the words past gritted teeth.

'I see,' a thoughtful expression covered Albans features. 'This may shed new light on the investigation.' Switching mental gears, he suddenly enquired, 'what information did we get from the interview?'

'The young man's name is Heath Ulrich, he's a medical student at Georgetown,' Andrews handed the report over. 'At first he refused to say anything. Eventually he told us a woman in her early thirties, with dark hair offered him a year's tuition for doing a little something for her. This woman supplied the syringe and its contents. Ulrich had to pretend to be a doctor, sneak into Mulder's room and inject the insulin.'

'Lucky the egmatic Dr Scully so helpfully chose to be there,' Albans shook his head.

'Sir,' Skinner probed, 'are you calling Dr Scully's motives into question?'

'Dr Scully's implication in this will have to be considered,' Albans agreed. Taking the files his assistant had given him earlier, he handed one to each of the three men seated before him. 'Now gentlemen, the reason I called you into this office. Firstly a woman matching the description of former FBI agent Diana Fowley was discovered by an early morning jogger beside the Potomac on the Capital Crescent Trail. I might remind you that's not more than half a mile from Hadley Park, where Agents Mulder and Hansel were discovered Saturday evening. I've had her body transferred to Quantico for autopsy. Preliminary suggests a self inflicted bullet wound to the head. The second, Agent Hansel required an emergency blood transfusion last night. The reaction to the blood caused anaphylaxis and he died at 0356 this morning. Due to the personal relationship between Hansel and Fowley, as well as their links to Mulder, this can only be considered suspicions.'

'How is Hansel connected to Mulder,' Andrew's asked.

'They worked on the College killer case in New York together. It wrapped up Thursday evening with the perpetrator's apprehension,' Skinner informed, 'Mulder and Fowley were partners on the X-files for a short time.'

'The description Ulrich gave of the woman matches Fowley,' Andrews made the sudden link, 'could she be our second shooter?'

Nodding, Albans commented, 'we're having ballistics look at Fowley's weapon now. I hope you see why Agent Cannone and the Internal are involved. Two agents and a former agent involved in a shoot out against one another. Two end up dead and the other has two attempts on his life with no clue as to why but only vague evidence as to who.'

'Our orders, Sir,' Skinner spoke up as the conversation stalled.

'We need Agent Mulder's statement and one from Dr Scully, before we can ever begin to understand what happened here,' Albans dismissed.

As the three men left, Albans sighed. He'd made a deal with the devil himself. From a second door, a tall, thin man exited, smoking a Morley cigarette. In his hands, a manila envelop, explaining the links Albans had just described.

'Thank you,' the gruff voice said without a hint of the emotion behind it, 'I'm glad you were able to return my property. Please ensure no more harm comes to Agent Mulder and his Fiancée.' Watching the expression on Alban's face, he chortled, continuing in a dead pan voice 'he proposed you know. She said yes and they'll find out this morning how many embryos Dr Scully's managed to conceive. Her doctor is betting on three.' With that, he turned to the door exiting directly into the corridor and disappeared.


	16. Chapter 16

**Day 24: Georgetown Hospital, Monday Morning.**

'Your carriage awaits, Dr Scully,' Michael, one of the ICU orderlies gallantly waved in the air above the wheelchair with her medical notes tucked into the pouch at the back. 'We're off to the ultrasound department.'

'Scully,' Mulder opened a bleary eye and reached out a hand. Even this small movement caused pain unless he moved very slowly and carefully. It must have shown on his face because Scully glanced over at him with a roll of her eyes.

'I think someone needs his pain meds, Patrice,' Scully informed the nurse.

'Come on Scully,' Mulder whined, watching his assigned carer check his medical chart before preparing to leave in order to obtain the required pills. 'I've only just woken up from the last lot you made Garry give me.'

'There is a reason for that,' Scully enunciated carefully while looking to the retreating nurse for support. 'Do I have to remind you that less than three days ago you almost died after being shot, three times?'

'You make it sound _**so**_ dramatic,' Mulder attempted levity which turned into a groan when he moved too quickly in Scully direction. Taking the roll onto his side much more slowly, he once again reached out a hand. This time Scully took it, carefully wrapping her fingers around his. 'I want to come with you.'

'You're in no fit state,' she reminded softly, with just a hint of sadness that he'd be forced to miss the first look at their children. 'I'll ask for pictures to bring back, so you'll get to see everything.'

'Not the same,' he grunted, forced to return to his back and a more comfortable position.

Standing, Scully smiled warmly. 'I'd prefer to have you there too,' she stated.

Her clear blue eyes said _I love you_ as she leant in to kiss him briefly on the lips. It had been far too long since they'd touched with more than a comforting gesture. Scully wanted, needed to touch him like a lover, to remind herself of the strong bond they shared. So much had occurred in the last few days. So much they hadn't talked about. Given the situation, they'd just have to wait for the opportunity to be alone. Then maybe they'd be able to really communicate.

While she intended the soft brushing of lips to be their signature kiss, Scully wanted more. Yet this would have to be enough until Mulder's health could cope with it. Before she had an opportunity to leave, Mulder's hand came up. Clamping around the back of her neck, he forced her back to him, turning the simple gesture into a heated mating of tongues.

'Better?' Scully asked with an effusive smile.

Nodding, he asked, 'less afraid?'

Her eyes widened for a second before that egmatic smile returned to her lips. 'Sometimes I think you know me better than I know myself.'

'Sometimes I think I do too. We'll make the time to talk later, I promise. Until then, you'd better get going Dr Scully,' Mulder released her completely, realising the orderly waited patiently, 'but I want details when you get back.'

'Promise,' she agreed, climbing into the wheelchair. 'Let's get this over with Michael.'

Once they'd left, Mulder found himself completely alone for the first time since Saturday morning. The sudden realisation hit, his family didn't know anything about the situation. Scully wouldn't know how to contact them or what to say if she did. Taking a deep breath before Patrice and the pain medication came to put him out of commission for the next few hours, Mulder picked up Scully's cell. Quickly, he disassembled it, satisfied the phone was clean, he dialled.

'Mom,' he spoke quietly into the handset. This would be one of the hardest calls he ever had to make.

'Fox,' the distraught voice on the other end bespoke the estrangement between mother and son. 'Has something happened?'

'Yes,' he swallowed convulsively, 'I need you to contact Dad. I'd like both of you to come down to Washington, today if possible.'

'Why?' Teen Mulder asked in a strangled tone. Fox calling meant trouble, asking her to contact her ex-husband disturbing, but requesting the presence of both of them, terrified her. They had last been together as a family, a real family, nineteen years ago, the night her daughter, her Samantha disappeared. The world changed for the Mulder family with that event. Like a pain of glass, they had shattered, unable to absorb the blow without breaking apart. Suddenly, Teena Mulder had the distinct feeling her world would once again splinter into a million pieces.

'I've found Samantha, Mom,' Mulder managed to choke out the words, the emotion of his discoveries finally hitting home. They were echoed by the gasp of pain from his mother. 'In the pursuit of this truth, I've been injured.'

'How,' she started a slow panic, wondering if she would pay the ultimate price and lose this child too. He might be a man now, have his own life, but Fox Mulder would always be her son. Even if their relationship had shattered on that long ago night, Teena understood both her children would one day be taken from her. It had taken Samantha's abduction to truly understand the bargain she and her husband made with the devil. After that, it had been almost impossible to connect emotionally with Fox when they would soon find a way to take him too. 'Where are you now?'

'I'm in the intensive care unit at Georgetown Hospital,' he answered slowly, hating the pain and distance he heard in her voice. Mulder had stoped needing or wanting his parents' approval a long time ago. Yet his battered soul cried out for the distance between them to be healed by his discoveries. Finding Scully, meeting her family, finally made him realise how much his parents emotional abandonment affected his life decisions. 'You can both stay at my apartment.'

'Fox,' Teena began uncertainly.

'Its fine, Mom,' Mulder understood his mother's concerns. Cooping his parents up in the small space wouldn't be comfortable for anyone concerned. 'I'll be in the hospital for a couple of weeks. You can take the bedroom and Dad the couch in the living room.' Smiling at the expression of incredulity he knew would grace his mother face, Mulder continued, understanding his next words would shock his mother, 'Scully…..Dana made me clean it up before she allowed our relationship to become intimate.'

'Will wonders never cease,' the tears could be heard in Teena voice.

'Was I that bad as a kid, Mom,' the question came out more uncertain than the sarcasm Mulder aimed for.

'Your messy tendencies started as a child, Fox, even if your mind was brilliant,' Teena stated in a suddenly soft tone filled with unshed tears and loaded with years of repressed emotion. 'I should have…'

'There are a lot of things we should have…' Mulder started, not knowing how to express exactly what he wanted to say. _Now is not the time_, he realised, _Mom, Dad and I need to do this face to face, and I need to have Scully with me. I need her strength to get through this._

'I know,' a monumental sigh expressed Teena inability to find the right words.

'Mom,' Mulder hesitated, wondering how to ask for his grandmothers ring. The family heirloom would have gone to Samantha on her engagement. In asking for it, Mulder confirmed his mothers long held fear that her daughter no longer lived. 'You said if there was ever someone special…'

Swallowing convulsively, Teena understood her son's message. 'I'll bring it with me, Fox,' she stated. 'This Dana must be a very special woman.'

'She is Mom, she is.' Lost in his thoughts, Mulder failed to notice his nurses return, or Maggie and Missy enter the room. 'You'll meet Scully…Dana when you and Dad come down.'

'Why do you call her Scully, Fox,' Teena asked in confusion.

'Fox,' Maggie Scully interrupted the conversation, 'do your parents need somewhere to stay in D.C.'

'Hang on a minute, Mom, Scully's mother and sister just arrived,' covering the phone with a hand, Mulder nodded. This would be a much better arrangement, even if only his mother stayed with the Scully's leaving his father to Mulder's apartment.

'What is you mother's name,' Maggie asked kindly. One look at his face told its own story.

'Christina but she prefers Teena,' he answered softly, handing the cell to Mrs Scully when she requested it by holding out her hand.

'Hello, Teena, this is Maggie Scully, Dana's mom. I know we haven't met, but I'd like you and your husband to come and stay with us while Fox and Dana are in hospital,' she offered.

Within two minutes, Margaret Scully convinced Christina Mulder. Handing the phone back to Fox, she pulled her cell from her bag. With her fingers, Maggie indicated she and Missy would be back in five minutes. Leaving Mulder to guess Captain Bill Scully would soon have instructions to prepare two guest rooms.

'Fox,' came the worried query from his mother.

Aware he'd been daydreaming, he quickly answered, 'I'm here, Mom.'

'They're good people, Fox,' Teena commented.

'The best,' he didn't need to say more. His mother knew meeting the Scully's had begun to undo much of the damaged caused by Samantha abduction.

'I'll call you father now,' she commented, not looking forward to that conversation. 'We should be able visit by early evening.'

'Thanks, Mom,' Mulder found sincerity in his words for the first time in years. 'I'll see you soon.'

No sooner had he hung up than Patrice handed Mulder a pot with several pill in it. Her expression forbade the argument he briefly considered. Throwing the medication down his throat, Patrice held a cup of water and he sipped through the straw.

'Try and get some rest, Mr Mulder,' she stated in a no nonsense tone, 'the physiotherapists will be here to terrorise you shortly. Even with your injuries, they'll want to get you sat up and out of bed as soon as possible. You'll be happy to have this medication on board when they sit up for the first time.'

Groaning at the thought, Mulder wondered how much longer before Scully returned. He must have dozed, because both Missy and Maggie had come again when he next opened his eyes. They looked at him with concern.

'Where's Dana,' Maggie asked.

'Dr Markham wanted a scan,' Mulder answered, briefly explaining why.

'Three,' Maggie gasped, her hand automatically covering her mouth with the shock, 'Oh my Lord.'

Missy couldn't help it, she laughed.

'I'm glad someone finds it funny,' Dana quipped from the doorway, where Michael helped her out of the wheelchair. Three pairs of eyes watched the tiny woman make her way back to the comfortable rocker-recliner situated beside Mulder's bed. Handing him a copy of the sonogram, he looked up at her with confusion. Pointing to what looked like two circles, one bigger and lest distinct than the other, Scully informed them, 'identical twins and a fraternal triplet.'

'Three,' Mulder stated, astounded the doctor had known.

'Looks like we need to start hunting for a house instead of an apartment, Mulder,' Scully commented, ignoring the concerns crowding into her mind. _Just the little things like how we're going to afford a house, finances in general, my student loans, employment security, our relationship, oh and three children with an invalid lover_.

'Well, we're not moving in until I can carry my new wife over the threshold,' a slow, sexy smile covered his face.

'By the time you're in any fit state to start looking, we find somewhere and organise a wedding, I'll be the size of a whale,' Scully complained.

'Just as well I like whales,' Mulder quipped, earning him a typical Scully look from the three women surrounding his bed.

* * *

><p>I have so many ideas on where to go next, but I really would like your opinions.<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

Scully sat and watched, amazed a how much pleasure she got from the quite activity. Mulder's chest slowly rose and fell with each deep, even breath. He looked so peaceful, his facial features relaxed in a blissful sleep. She'd never taken the time to sit and contemplate a lover's face before. Until now her life had been far too busy to stop and smell the roses.

The last hour since Scully's arrival from the ultrasound had passed in the blink of an eye. The physiotherapists arrived before she'd had enough time with her family. All the things she'd wanted to say remained unsaid and Dana regretted it. Then the two professional women forced Maggie and Melissa to leave so they could work on Mulder. Dana hadn't wanted her mother and sister to go, but the pleading look in Mulder's hazel eye convinced her to say a quick goodbye at the elevator before returning to his side. Instead of finding a quiet place to talk to them about the many and rapid changes occurring in her life, changes which quite frankly scared the living daylights out of her, Dana Scully returned to Mulder's room. He needed the moral support to get him through the next half hour.

The entire physiotherapy session had been excruciating for both of them. As stoic as Mulder attempted to be, he hadn't been able to completely hide his low grunts or moans of pain as Jenny forced him to sit up for the first time. The effort exhausted him and she'd felt every one of his aches and experienced the burning of injured muscles. Unable to do anything to ease his torture, Scully had been reduced to platitudes and softly spoken encouragement. Now, he slept and Scully had little else to do but watch.

'Mulder,' she whispered, ensuring her voice couldn't be heard by Garry, his nurse who wouldn't be happy if she disturbed her patients hard fought slumber. She really didn't want to wake him, yet she needed to have him listen to her. Scully needed to talk through the maelstrom of worries and fears encircling her mind. So much had happened in such a short time that she still didn't know how to deal with most of it. Adding to her concern, she and Mulder hadn't discussed his comments about clandestine eugenics and the children she carried. The time and space they needed for that conversation hadn't presented itself. 'I'm so afraid. You almost died before I could tell you about our pregnancy, and now I don't know what to expect.'

'Scully,' Mulder mumbled, almost too quietly to be heard. Eyes still closed, he turned his head in her direction. 'You're not alone in your fear.'

'If the embryos survive to birth, how are we going to afford three children,' tears welled in her eyes at the thought of the massive debit she owed her parents and the bank. 'I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to work. My student loans…'

Forcing the sleep from his tired eyes, Mulder worked through the pain to sit up. The recently given medication helped to suppress the hurt cause be any movement, at lease a little. Reaching a hand out, he gently stroked her cheek, adding in a reassuring voice, 'money is the one thing we don't need to worry about, Scully.'

'How can you say that,' she cried softly, leaning into his gentle touch by covering his larger hand with her own, 'after this, I may not have a job and nor might you. I've been so tired and emotional the last two weeks. Fainting in the ER is unforgivable and it's only going to get worse. If the FBI takes you back, it will be months before you're back out in the field and then you might be gone from me for days or weeks at a time. You still have at least two more major surgeries to get through.'

'Scully,' Mulder locked his gaze with her, attempting to close down that completely rational, logical mind and make her feel the exceptional bond between them, to trust in it as he did. He'd come to believe in them since first sighting her entering Spookies Rest. 'You need to trust me on this. Everything is going to turn out right.'

'Mulder,' she sighed, trying to formulate the words, her worries and fears. Dana's heart felt them. At the moment her active mind catalogued them. Scully's intellect worked furiously to understand them and find a logical conclusion to the situation.

'The income generated from Spookies Rest is enough to support the both of us without working, if that's what we choose,' Mulder informed her soothingly, taking away that worry from Scully's over extended mind. 'My father's family made sure he married into the same level of society, even if his bride didn't follow their religion. I have a trust fund I've never touched from my mothers' side. Mom is an only child and with Samantha gone, I'll inherit that fund as well. It amounts to enough to buy a house, a big house in a nice neighbourhood and pay off your student debit.'

'What about the other thing,' she asked in a strangled tone, Scully's free hand going to her belly.

'Scully,' stoping because Mulder knew asking her to wait so he only need to explain this once would hurt, 'Dana,' he attempted again, hopping the use of her Christian name communicated his disquiet, 'I called my parents.'

'I know,' she replied holding his gaze, 'Mom told me they're staying with her for a few days.'

'I don't want to relive this over and over again,' he pleaded, his eyes sliding away. Feeling exposed, Mulder reluctantly spoke, 'it's still too raw, too painful. My parents will be here in a few hours. Do you think you can wait until then?'

Biting her bottom lip and hiding her gaze from him, Scully nodded in agreement. Mulder didn't like the closed, defeated posture. Forcing her face up to meet him, to meet his intense hazel glare, he attempted to read her mind with his eyes. This fear between them had become a sticking point, one they would both have to work hard to overcome.

'I need you, Dana, I need you to be my strength when I talk to Mom and Dad later today. They've hurt me in so many ways over the years I've lost count. I always thought they blamed me for Samantha's abduction because they left me in charge that night,' Mulder finished, looking almost defeated by his emotions.

'You were a twelve year old boy, Mulder,' Scully attempted to sooth, realising she could do little to take away his pain. Mentally she cursed his parents for emotionally abandoning their son as such a crucial stage of development in his young life.

'I know,' Mulder agreed, 'but no one talked about it. Samantha's name was never mentioned again. They treated the entire situation like it never happened, like Samantha never existed. It made me feel more responsible for what happened. I lived with the fact that it was my fault.'

'You're parents let you believe that?' Unsure if the words formed a statement or question, it gave Scully insight into Mulder's paranormal obsession. By believing in extreme possibilities, he'd kept his hope of finding his sister alive. Samantha's abduction marked a major the turning point in his life. He'd followed the path less taken until Mulder found the truth. Scully came to the sudden and unmistakable realisation that Mulder now stood at yet another cusp in his life. This time he opted for normal. He'd chosen her and the possibility of a mundane existence as a father and husband.

'My parents disengaged from life, from me, from each other after Samantha disappeared,' Mulder explained, seeing so much passing over Scully's expressive face. He knew she understood, and would wait until he became ready to talk. 'I think they shut down emotionally just in case they lost me too. I'm an adult now and I realise they were afraid, so afraid of loosing another child. I'd feel the same way, if I lost you or the chance of our seeing our children.'

Swallowing hard, Scully promised, 'we'll never do that to our children, Mulder. No matter what happens between us, promise me you'll never let our children experience that level of fear and abandonment.'

'That, Dana Scully,' Mulder pulled her to him, kissing her forehead, 'is a promise I intend to keep.'

Moving over to the side of the bed, Mulder's eyes asked her to curl up beside him. He needed her warmth and comfort. He needed to feel safe and loved for himself. He needed a very large dose of his Scully and he needed it now. Mulder wondered if he needed his Scully more than the air he breathed, and came to appreciate he couldn't live without either.

'You need to sleep,' Scully told him lightly, intently watching this man before her. His level of devotion astonished her. Yet she needed more time to be as \certain as he, to know, at an instinctive level what her heart and mind attempted to integrate. 'I love you,' she whispered, so quietly Scully wondered if he heard.

'I sleep better with you beside me,' he confessed smiling slightly. Mulder chose to allow her words to wash over him without commenting on them, 'better than I have in years. Just the feel of you chases away my demons and lets my mind rest without degrading into nightmares.' Waiting until she gently climbed onto the bed, Mulder turned his head, kissing her briefly on the lips. _Our__signature__kiss_, his mind supplied, before his lips said, 'I love you.'

Patrice ignored her patients' blatant disregard for hospital procedure and policy, especially here in the ICU. They both look so peaceful, curled into one another. Sheltering them as long as possible, she informed the FBI agent wanting to take statements that he'd need to return tomorrow. Having been exposed to the events of the last two days, Patrice hoped their danger would soon be over. Dr Scully's reputation as a clinician had reached the unit, as had complimentary reports of her personality. Nothing she'd seen refuted the current gossip, and they did look like an engaging couple, even if life intended a bumpy road ahead.

That's how Graham Markham found them several hours later. Eyeing the nurse, his expression, a mixture of amusement and disapproval, Dr Markham cleared his throat. While the nurse turned her attention to him, the couple on the bed continued to slumber peacefully.

'I tried that already,' Patrice smiled with a twinkle in her deep brown orbs. 'I was under the impression the doctor ordered rest.'

'Yes,' Graham laughed with her, 'I believe that was the treating physician's management plan, for both of them.'

'You know Dr Scully's not going to leave him,' Patrice commented, 'and attempting rest in that chair is almost impossible. They need to be moved to another ward, together.'

'Is he ready?' Graham asked.

'Not really,' she shrugged easily, 'he could do with another twenty four hours in the unit, but I've never seen someone want to be out of here as badly as Mr Mulder. His treatment can occur anywhere in the hospital and with his personal resident physician in attendance, nothing will get past Dr Scully. If problems arise, we'll know about them and Mr Mulder won't have an option in receiving medical attention.'

'I'll just go and have a word to Lance Wu,' Graham looked back to the narrow hospital bed and had to wonder how a six foot plus man with incredibly broad shoulders could possibly make room for his lover.

'When are you going to de-monitor me?' Scully asked as Graham returned several minutes later.

'Wrong question,' crossing his arms as he lounged against the door jam, Graham gave his colleague an appraising stare. The body language between Dana Scully and her fiancé spoke volumes. His hand had strayed protectively to her flat belly, warning other potential suitors that this woman and the offspring she carried were his.

Having learnt from her mistakes, Scully rose into a sitting position cautiously. Each movement slow and very well planed. Stomach recoiling and head spinning just slightly, the movement disturbed Mulder at her side.

'Stay,' he murmured in a sleep roughened voice, his hand snaking around her middle as if to pin her to his side.

'We have company, Mulder,' she returned quietly into his ear.

Waking instantly, with long ingrained instincts, Mulder took in the scene before him. 'You stay here,' he stated, 'Patrice can help me into the chair. You still look exhausted, Scully and I think your doctor friend has come to tell you the same thing.'

'Very perceptive of you Mr Mulder,' Graham couldn't hide a smile. Dr Scully, he knew, would have to learn to take her own medicine. Mulder rose in his estimation with the knowledge he'd give his head strong partner as good as he got. 'You know Dana, if you'd asked when you'd be discharged, I would have said tomorrow.'

'Would have?' that drew Scully's gaze away from Mulder's laborious effort to stand and pivot into the chair to her consultant, 'what do you mean would have?'

'Dana,' Graham sighed, hoping his advice would sink into the memory of at least one patient in the room, 'just in case it's missed your attention, you're pregnant with triplets. You need at least eight to ten hours uninterrupted sleep a night and you're not going to get it here. Discharging you wouldn't get you to leave this hospital each night, go home and sleep, would it?'

Shaking her head, Graham Markham sighed loudly, as if to ask "why do I bother". 'So what's the point discharging you if your not going to follow my advice?' he asked with a put upon look covering his face.

'I promise you,' he continued in his very sternest doctor voice, 'with the amount of hormones produced in a multiple birth, these vasovagals may continue throughout your pregnancy. By twenty weeks, you'll be so big, given your petite stature, work will be virtually impossible. I suspect you'll either be on complete bed rest or hospitalised by twenty six weeks. If we can keep those kids inside past thirty four weeks it'll be a miracle.'

'Your point being,' Scully retorted, the enormity of her situation finally hitting home.

'I've taken the liberty of speaking to Rebecca van der Zwan, Director of the Medical Residency Programme on your behalf. There's a ten week opening in the clinics, covering maternity leave. I know it's not the kind of work you envisaged when you became a doctor but Dana, its perfect for you at this stage. Nine to three, Monday to Friday, giving you time to be with your fiancé while he goes through the rest of his treatment. You'll be almost sixteen weeks by then, and we'd would have had to revisit your ability to work at that stage anyway.'

'Scully,' Mulder chimed in, finally comfortable in the big chair, 'it's perfect, for both of us,' suddenly amending his statement, 'all of us.'

Dr Dana Scully's answer came in the form of a nod. She didn't trust her voice to betray the emotion she felt in agree to this plan. _My__life__is__changing,__metamorphosising__faster__then__a__caterpillar__'__s__crystalyss.__I__can__only__hope__I__come__out__as__a__beautiful__butterfly__at__the__end__of__this__process,__because__right__now__I__feel__like__I__'__m__in__a__very__dark__place__with__Mulder__as__my__only__protection__against__the__reality__of__the__outside__world__attempting__to__devour__easy__prey._


	18. Chapter 18

**Day 24: Hallway, J Edgar Hoover Building, Monday Morning.**

'You gave Mulder the file,' the words accompanied a puff of smoke. Neither a question nor a statement, the interaction between the two evenly opposed men appeared obvious. They had known of each other many years. That they liked, hated or trusted the other could be anyone's guess. They were, however comrades in something clandestine.

'Yes,' Deep Throat answered easily, not looking his companion in the eye.

'Why?' asked Smoking Man. Although no expression appeared on is face, he seemed intrigued by the admission.

'You taught me to keep my friends close, but my enemy's closer,' he replied, easily.

'You see Mulder as an enemy,' another puff of smoke filled the air, before he threw a half finished cigarette to the ground and stamped it out.

'No,' Deep Throat answered, 'I see his father as less than an enemy and more than a friend. I see Mulder as a pawn to be played as we need.'

'We've worked together for many years. We've both seen too much to make mistakes now,' Smoking Man hissed, his tone suddenly changing.

'You take this relationship with Mulder too seriously,' Deep Throat finally turned to look at his companion. 'He might be composed of your DNA, but you have a blind spot where he and his work are concerned. The entrance of Dr Scully has changed everything. Mulder needed his focus back on chasing non-existent aliens. It hides our true purpose.'

'And yet in meeting Dr Scully we now have a second generation incubating,' a sudden gleeful expression crossed Smoking Man's face. 'So you didn't know Mulder and Scully are expecting, that they continue the original experiment.'

'No,' a weary sigh escaped Deep Throat. 'In light of this new information, perhaps it's time to have the X-Files closed permanently, while is interest is elsewhere.'

'I couldn't agree more,' Smoking Man replied, 'I'll have it arranged. The timing couldn't be better, given his injuries.'

**Day 24: Georgetown Hospital, Monday Evening.**

Teena Mulder looked at her son. She'd expected him to be in the bed. Instead, he sat in a comfortable chair, eyes closed. His bald head sported a bulky dressing covering over half of his skull. Both hazel eyes, ringed by black bags, displayed the result of his head injury.

A blue multi-ended tube snaked out from his neck. Milky white liquid gravitated down a tube from a black plastic bag, disappearing into his neck. So far, Mulder hadn't been allowed to eat due to the abdominal surgery. This substance sustained him, providing the equivalent of food, and would do for serval days, if not weeks. Yet another tube exited his nose, vanishing under his pillow, ensuring his injured stomach held nothing. Under the ubiquitous hospital gown, a protuberance presented itself on the left side of his abdomen. The J loop colostomy would be his companion for months, until Mulder's intestines recovered enough to rejoin them inside his body.

Mulder's right arm, covered in yet another bandage, hid a line turning his physical blood pressure into an electronic signal. The monitor above his bed fed this information to the nurse stationed at the foot of his bed.

'Fox,' Teena cried, both hands flying to cover the gasp of horror at the sight of her son. She'd been warned he didn't look good, but the reality proved worse than her fears.

'Mom,' the single word held the older woman at bay. A finger to his lips stopped her from saying more. Mulder pointed to the prone figure in the bed. Teena glanced between her son and the woman. She knew this must be Dana Scully, the woman he spoke of earlier in the day. Even in sleep she looked exhausted. Silently questioning her son, his blank stare told her very little.

'Mulder,' woken suddenly by the abrupt change in the atmosphere, Scully sat up with a start. 'Oh God,' she moaned, her world suddenly spinning, a hand flying to her mouth as the monitors alarm screeched in protest.

'Lay back down, Dana,' Patrice rushed to her side, forcing Scully back into the pillows. The alarm drew attention on the flight deck and bringing several staff into the room.

'I'm going to be sick,' she wailed.

Mulder handed her the ubiquitous vomit bag just in time. His eyes said everything that needed saying. His fingers gently brushed back a lock of her red hair, lightly skimming her ear. 'Better,' he asked, handing her a glass of water.

'I'm fine,' Scully answered automatically, 'I just sat up to fast and got dizzy.'

'Well, everything looks like its going back to normal,' Patrice stated, waving away several nurses at the door after taking Dana's blood pressure. 'I think I might go for my break now. I'll ask one of the nurses to keep an ear out. Could I get you some tea and toast?' she offered, realising this couple need time alone with Mulder's family.

Scully nodded in agreement, 'No hurry but I'd appreciate that.'

'Are…are you pregnant,' Teena had waited until the nurse left the room before asking hesitantly.

'Five weeks,' her son answered proudly, unable to hide his delighted smile.

'You have morning sickness already,' she asked suspiciously, turning to catch her ex-husbands gaze.

'With triplets, Mom,' Mulder stated, watching the interaction between his parents. Slipping his hand down Scully shoulder to entwine their fingers in a display of unity, he once again turned his gaze to that of his parents.

'Oh,' Teena looked terrified by the admission.

'I know about your involvement in The Project. I know about the children you lost and about the events surrounding both Samantha and my conception,' Mulder told his parents in a monotone, hardly able to look at them. In fact, he held Scully cerulean gaze as her response to his words were more important to him. Sighing deeply, he tore his eyes from those of his lover. 'Before we get into that, I need to tell you about Samantha.'

'You said you found her, Fox,' hope shone in his mother's eyes for the first time he could remember since that long ago day.

'Yes, Mom, I did.' Taking that as her que, Scully carefully rose from the bed. Before retrieving the pictures, she aided Mulder from the chair and into the warm sheets, ensuring his comfort. 'I think you and dad better sit down.'

'She's….she's..de….' suddenly Teena Mulder didn't need to see the photos. Deep in her heart, she'd come to know her daughter no longer suffered. Whatever Samantha had experienced ended with her sprit leaving this earth.

'Yes, Mom,' nodding to Scully, Mulder silently asked her to leave one of the pictures out. Giving his parents time to look at the frames, to understand there meaning, he requested his love join him on the bed. Remaining silent, he held Scully close in comfort.

'How did you get these?' Bill Mulder asked, a hint of anger and distress colouring his voice as his eyes, so like Mulder's, bore into his son.

'A man contacted me Saturday afternoon in the bar I own,' Mulder stated easily. Only Scully knew the effort this casual tone cost him. The rest of the story spilled out in the same neutral voice.

As Scully heard Mulder continue in a deadpan monotone, her heart went out to him. She could only imagine the thoughts and feelings cascading through the mind of such an intelligent man. Mulder, sitting on that bench, attempting to marry up the images in his eidetic memory to this new truth he'd uncovered.

_How must he have suffered, to know his sister had been so used? The pain and anguish she's been subjected to for years and that he'd been spared because the genetic experiment worked beyond expectations in him. The utter despair the knowledge of her death brought. To rationalise is one thing, but to know, know Samantha is dead would prove crushing. He tries to hide it, but Mulder is such an emotionally intuitive person. How two such people could have made him is beyond me._

Pulling herself out of her introspection, Scully glanced at Mulder's parents. Bill Mulder stood stock still, seemingly appalled that the man before him, the child he'd brought up as his son, had learnt the truth about his conception. Guilt didn't factor into Bill Mulder's expression, nor did relief. Scully wondered if Bill regretted his role in this masquerade or just the fact Fox Mulder had discovered the truth. Either way, Scully had the distinct impression Bill Mulder knew the fate of his "daughter" and had done so for many years. She could see why "father" and "son" didn't talk. They had little in common and even less to discuss.

Teena, on the other hand, sank further into her chair. Clutching at the photos of Samantha as a pre-teen, her eyes misted with tears. From Mulder's description of his mothers' emotionless state, this reaction spoke volumes to Scully. The distraught woman allowed her deepest emotions to be displayed before a relative stranger. Teena Mulder must have been completely and utterly heartbroken, proving she expected this outcome but wished for another. Scully felt sorry for her in that moment, until she remembered how this emotionless state affected Mulder's childhood development.

Finally, turning her gaze to Mulder, Scully schooled her face into one of compassion and love. He needed her. He needed her strength, her ridged professionalism and logic to get through this confrontation. Neither of his parents proved capable of the emotional assistance he required. They never had and Mulder knew it. Tightening her hold on him, Scully attempted to communicate all she thought with a single gesture and look. From the intense gaze he returned, she almost believed he'd read her mind, especially as the corners of his lips curled up in the slightest of smiles.

'Thank you,' he whispered into her ear before brushing his lips across hers in their signature kiss.

Finally, Teena Mulder lifted her stained cheeks and eye's towards her son, 'I don't know what to say.'

'How did you and dad get involved, why?' Mulder asked.

'The cold war, communism, the threat of oil shortages, Korea, Vietnam,' Bill Mulder answered in the same tone his son used earlier, 'combined to give political power to the proponents of continued eugenics started by Germany in World War II. We imported their scientist after the war, and again after the fall of the Berlin wall in the attempt to make the human race stronger, more intelligent, and resistant to disease. We wanted a populace able to survive the worst the other side could manage. We desired to become the very best we could, more human than human.'

'To what end,' Mulder turned his intent stare on his father.

'Why does the human race do anything?' Bill answered rhetorically, 'because we could, because we thought the other side would, because the challenge involved interested the intellectuals and politicians behind the project, because if it worked, the power gained would be beyond comprehension. Or maybe someone, somewhere just wanted to play God for a while.'

'Is that why you joined the project?'

'Few join of there own recognisance,' Bill Mulder sighed. 'We were chosen, selected, made to feel special, superior. In staying we gained prestige, power, and financial security.'

Angered beyond her capacity to hold back, Scully's venom intonated her words. 'You gave up all choice in who you married, who sired your children, how to rase them and what tests they had preformed on them. Sounds like you got a great deal.'

'I couldn't live with it any more,' finally torn beyond her capacity to cope with the choices in her life, Teena burst into wracking sobs. 'It's the reason your father and I divorced, why I couldn't stand the sight of him after Samantha disappeared. I thought…I thought…' she couldn't finish the sentence as the emotional barriers she's kept solid so long finally came crashing down.

'Mom,' Mulder wanted to comfort her. In his current state, he discovered he just couldn't. He'd been hurt to badly by these people for too many years.

'I knew, from that moment, when we came back to the house in Chilmark and you told us about your sister,' Teena's weeping had diminished but not completely subsided, 'that I'd be destine to lose you too, and I couldn't live with the thought. I hated your father, I hated what we'd become. There isn't a day gone by that I haven't regretted my part in all of this.'

Finally angered, Mulder announced, 'and yet the experiments continue.'

'Yes,' his father agreed, understanding his son spoke of the present time, 'what you found in Miami, it's just the tip of the iceberg. We have better understanding, better techniques and resources beyond anything that could be imagined at the beginning of the project. They no longer need to fumble in the dark to produce the characteristics they want in human offspring. Now they engineer them to order.'

'You want me to what, give up on exposing this, to forget I ever uncovered the truth,' Mulder all but shouted. 'What about the safety of my children? How can I guarantee Dana that?'

'You have a unique opportunity, Fox,' Bill Mulder shook his head at his son's apparent naivety. 'You're attempting to chase monsters with a butterfly net. You and Dr Scully stand on a persicus. Not only are you the sole survivor of the initial experiments, the children Dana carries, if they survive will be the second generation. The biggest bargaining chip of all time. You don't need to expose them, you control to game,' he stated with heat.

'How,' Mulder insisted.

'I think you know the answer to that,' Bill replied.

Suddenly becoming completely still, Mulder acknowledged the truth of his father's words. 'How do I find him?'

'You don't find these men,' Bill offered, 'they find you.' Then he walked out of his son's room and his life.

'I'm going to see where Patrice has got to with my tea and toast,' Scully whispered. She knew Mulder need time with his mother to talk about all the revelations. Turning towards Teena, Dana offered, 'Mrs Mulder, it's been interesting meeting you for the first time.'

'I have something for you,' she laid a hand on the young woman's arm, effectively stopping her from leaving. 'Fox asked me to bring this for you. It's a family heirloom, passed down from Grandmother to the eldest granddaughter. Samantha should have had it. I believe it belongs to you now.'

Shoving the black velvet box into Scully's hand, Teena made her way to her son's bedside. 'We'll talk,' she promised.

Nodding, Fox Mulder felt her mothers loving embrace for the first time in almost twenty years. 'I love you, Mom,' he whispered, his emotions just below the surface and threatening to expose his deepest feelings.

'I know,' she returned. 'Take care of her, Fox. I only have to look at the two of you together to see the bond you share. I want you to have what your father and I never had. '

With that Teena Mulder brushed passed Scully and exited the room. Her jaw dropping to somewhere around her knees, Dana could only watch the woman retreat. Dragging her gaze back to her lover, the smile covering his face surprised her.

'Scully,' Mulder called to her in an amused voice, 'why don't you open the box.'

Brought out of her revere, Scully looked down at the object she held in her small hand. Fear and delight mixed. Opening the jewellery case, she found a timeless diamond solitaire nestled in black velvet. In the moment, Scully's world turned upside down and inside out. By accepting this ring, she accepted Mulder, warts and all. Intellectually, Dana Scully knew her life and Mulder's were already entwined, but in accepting this, she made a leap of faith, a leap entwining their lives forever more.

'It belongs to my mother's side of the family. It dates back to the early 18th century when engagement rings were becoming acceptable and fashionable. It's so small most of the women who wore it had to use their pinkie finger,' Mulder told her, the nervousness in his voice easily recognisable.

Smiling at herself, at her reaction to the beautiful piece, Scully gently, reverentially took the ring from its resting place. She slid it onto her engagement finger. 'It fits perfectly,' she stated, her eye's capturing Mulder's. He could see the love and commitment shining from her so blue eyes. Scully walked over to the bed, leaning down, so her lips almost touching his, she said, 'just like you and me.' Then she kissed him with all the passion she felt.


	19. Chapter 19

**Day 25: Nurse Specials Unit, Georgetown Hospital, Tuesday afternoon.**

'I hear I need to book the synagogue,' Rubin teased, walking into his cousin's hospital room, 'and soon if what I hear is correct.'

'I haven't practiced my religion, or believed in it for a long time,' Mulder reminded sarcastically, taking first one and then the other of his cousins in a careful, warm embrace. Scully looked on surprised by the affection openly displayed between these men when the same couldn't be demonstrated between parents and son. 'Let me introduce you to my Fiancée, Dr Dana Scully. Scully this is Rubin and Robert Finkelstein.'

'They're twins, Mulder,' Scully looked astonished, politely holding out her hand.

'Really, Scully, I hadn't noticed,' he returned with a dead pan expression, glancing from one cousin to the other as they ignored Scully hand in favour of a bear hug, 'but your assumption could be correct.'

'You didn't tell…why do you call your Fiancée Scully?' Rubin asked, 'Dana's such a pretty name.'

'You have to watch this one, Scully,' Mulder leaned over to whisper, 'he has a wife and four children already, but he's always on the look out for a pretty lady to flit with.'

'I heard you're starting a family of your own and before you're married. Let me tell you that's causing a few razed eyebrows among the older generation,' Rubin continued with a wide smile.

'I never did anything by the book,' Mulder returned, 'but Scully's family are staunch Catholics.'

Rubin and Robert gauged Scully's reaction to this before joining their cousin in laughter, 'better watch yourself then, Mulder.'

'Only with Scully eldest brother Bill Jr,' he teased, looking at Scully to ensure she joined in the hilarity at his expense.

'I have to say it's about time,' Robert mocked. 'We'd just about given up on you. You're the last one to take the leap.'

'You're married,' Scully asked, looking at for the telltale sign, and finding it.

'Almost two years ago, and Ariel, my wife is pregnant,' Robert enthused happily. 'She'll be happy to have someone else in the family in the same condition. When are you planing on getting married?'

'We haven't…' Scully started only to be interrupted by Mulder's goofy grin and simple, 'the sooner the better.'

'I'm sure Scully and her family will want…' he managed before Dana cut him down with one of her famous looks. It brought open, amused laughter from his cousins.

'Mulder,' the word said so much, not the least to stop making decisions for them. 'Family is important, especially on these types of occasions. What about a compromise, an outdoor wedding. It's almost Spring so I'm sure we could find a garden setting somewhere, then we could have a blessing from both religions, keeping everyone happy.'

'I like this woman already,' Robert chuckled heartily.

'Did I tell you these two own and operated a real estate company in DC,' Mulder told her casually.

'Finkelstein and sons,' Scully sounded shocked. They only handled exclusive homes and even more exclusive clientele. _And these are Mulder's cousins, maybe he really didn't joke about the size of his trust fund._

'Mulder here is the brains behind the company,' Robert supplied, it seem he'd read Scully thoughts, 'the real estate branch is only one of the businesses we manage under the family trust.'

'I wouldn't go that far,' Mulder seemed embarrassed by his cousin's praise.

'I would,' Rubin chimed in, happy to dish all the dirt, 'he's much too modest when it comes to his intelligence and obstinacy. Mulder's financial acumen is why we are where we are. In fact I was hoping this new situation would finally convince you to come on board full time.'

'You'd be able to stay at home with the wife and kids,' Robert added with a sly smile.

'You know about the triplets,' Scully announce surprised.

Looking at each other they burst out laughing. 'No, but we expected it might be twins by your reaction to us. Three, well, you are going to need a bigger place than your one bedroom apartment.'

'This is the cousin, who owns your building,' Scully faced Mulder, her astonishment shining beyond her blue orbs.

More laughter cascaded out of the mouths of the twins. 'I don't think someone's been entirely honest with you, Dana,' Rubin managed to stop his hilarity long enough to get the words out.

'We managed the tenants, but the family trust owns the building,' Robert finished for his brother. 'Mulder is a large part of that trust, even if he tries to not to be most of the time.'

Attempting to take attention away from the situation fast getting out of hand, Mulder gave Scully one of his very best kicked puppy looks. When he knew it wouldn't work, he changed the subject. 'I asked these two here for a reason,' he eyed his cousin's hopping they'd take the hint. 'We need a house, Scully and from the information your obstetrician gave us, soon. You just need to tell Rubin and Robert what you want in our home and they'll find it for us.'

'Four walls and a roof, Mulder,' she quipped, not sure what to say in the situation. Did she go for broke or attempt modesty, after all these men were Finkelstein and Sons. That alone had to give her some idea about the kind of house Mulder wanted.

'Well, that goes without saying,' he offered an amused smile, 'but on a more practical level, considering our family will soon numbering five. Come on, Scully, let you imagination run wild. Just tell these two about all your fantasies.'

'All of them, Mulder,' she quipped, one eyebrow reaching the roof. The comment forced snorts from their audience, which they attempted to hide.

Ignoring Scully's comment except for a goofy grin, Mulder began his list of needs for their home, 'at least six bedrooms, two masters, both with an en-suite, one for us and a guest room, hopefully in a different part of the house. I'll need space for an office. What about you Scully, do doctors keep an office at home?'

'Usually,' she quipped, amazed he'd given their home this much thought.

'So, an office each then,' he instructed easily. 'Oh, and a two bedroom apartment over the garage or at least the ability to built one,' he tacked on as an afterthought.

'Haven't you forgotten something, Mulder,' Scully quizzed, a shy smile playing at her lips. When he gave a startled look, she continued with a roll of her expressive eyes, 'three children, Mulder. Big family room, large kitchen, and laundry, separate nook for meals able to take three high-chairs. It'd be nice to have formal rooms for family occasions and a place where the kids aren't allowed.'

'Easy, isn't it,' Mulder couldn't help the smirking like a two year old who just got exactly what he wanted. 'Anything else I've forgotten?'

'Close to my family in Annapolis,' deciding to make the most of his effusive mood, and push the limits, Scully added, 'with a backyard able to have a tree house, sand pit, an area for three children to play and an area for the adults too.'

'By the water, if possible, ever since my family brought that summer house in Quonochontaug, I wanted to give my kids the same freedom,' Mulder's orbs took on a glazed look as he remembered his early childhood and happier times.

'I remember,' Robert joined, 'We only had to make it home for dinner.'

'Otherwise we played ball, or swam, or just goofed around all day,' Rubin chuckled, 'those were the days, before…'

'Did mom tell you about Samantha?' Mulder enquired, all the mirth leaving his expression. No words escaped the cousin's, none were needed. Much to Scully's surprise, the men recovered quickly, by giving an upper limit for the purchase of their home.

'We can't afford that,' Scully choked out, astounded.

Ignoring her, Robert asked Mulder, 'is that all?'

Rubin just grinned, chiming in with, 'you have told her about your net worth, right. She did understand about the family trust?'

'We'll need staff,' Mulder stated, ignoring the comments from the more effusive of the twins.

'Why?' Scully asked, breaking Mulder's train of thought.

'Do you really think you're going to be able to cope with three new babies and a very large house on your own,' glaring at Scully, Mulder returned his attention to his cousin madly scribbling down everything they'd requested.

'So you'll need me to find a housekeeper and nanny,' Robert chimed in, attempting to alleviate some of the tension building up in the pair before him.

'Mulder,' this time a warning sounded in Scully tone. Unable to stand by idly and have her life organized for her, she gave her fiancée a glare.

'Scully,' Mulder returned with the same determination.

'I'm not handing my children over to someone else to rase,' she stated, effectively closing the issue, in her mind at least.

'I'm not asking you too,' he returned, a soft look entering his eye. 'I'm trying to give you the opportunity to have another person, a suitably qualified person to help out.'

'I'll have you, and my mother down the road,' Scully rationalised.

'You will,' once again that completely disarming grin, 'and a housekeeper and a nanny for the three in the morning feeds when I'm out of town on a case and your mother's visiting one of your sibling for the weekend to look after their children.'

Rolling her eyes, Scully gave in.

'Just tell my cousin exactly what you want, Scully. They'll short list some properties. You can take you mom, sister and whom ever else you want to look at them next week. When you find the one, Rubin will handle the purchase, then we'll talk about furnishing it,' Mulder told her in an insufferable voice of a man getting his own way.

'You're not even going to look at the house you might spend the rest of your life in?' Scully asked, surprised.

'As long as I have you in it, I don't care what it looks like,' he stated.

'How do you feel about living in Arnold,' Robert asked, 'because I have a house exceeding your criteria, a deceased estate, at the top of your price range. It's partly furnished as the recipient of the will lives in Australia and want's the estate sold in its entirety. The housekeeper is a very well respected older woman. Mrs Miller would like to continue in her current position with the new owners. You'd be able to move in almost immediately.'

'If you have e-mail at the hospital, we could send you the details once we get back to the office,' Rubin added.

'Scully,' Mulder made a question of the simple word.

'I look at it,' she agreed, knowing from the description this house would soon be her home. The simplicity of acquiring it mirrored the ease with which Mulder had entered her life and the conception of her children. 'Must be fate, Mulder,' she whispered, earning her a startled look. It soon turned smouldering as he did that thing which looked to the rest of the world as reading her mind.


	20. Chapter 20

**Day 26: Nurse Specials Unit, Georgetown Hospital, Wednesday.**

'Hello,' Lauren poked her head around the door. She'd expected to see Dana up and about. The bruised and bandaged man facing a clear fluid breakfast shocked her. 'You heal well,' she stated with a disarming grin, examining the room for her friend. 'The last time I saw you, Dana just about had kittens at the extent of your injuries.'

'Lauren,' Scully squealed. Exiting the bathroom in time to hear the remark and covered in a terry towelling robe, she rushed over to her friend. 'You look exhausted,' Dana commented before wrapping her colleague in a warm embrace.

'Thanks to you,' Lauren teased lightly, 'your somewhat dramatic exit from the ER left a sizable workload to be picked up. We finally managed to get relief cover yesterday.'

'You've just finished shift,' Scully asked, concerned by the fatigue in her friends body language.

'Yes and I came to spring you from the evils of a hospital breakfast,' Lauren grinned.

'You're welcome to mine,' Mulder chipped in, glancing down at the tray containing a single cup. This morning marked a return to "real" food, if beef broth could be considered as such.

Red stains coloured Scully's cheeks. Embarrassed by her lack of manners, she quickly introduced her friend and fiancée. 'Your right, Mulder is going exceptionally well. Bernice Warren, his gastroenterologist, wants to start nasogastric feeds tomorrow.'

Laughing at Mulder's expression, Lauren understood his lack of doctor speak, 'well ahead of schedule It means you're recovering much faster than expected if they want to start food.'

'So Scully informs me, but I don't consider this food. And no one will give me a release date from this prison,' he stated with thinly veiled humour. Turning serious, Mulder speared Scully with his hazel glare, 'you need to get out of here. I think you should treat Lauren to breakfast.'

'Mulder,' she returned, not wanting to leave him.

Yesterday, Agent Cannone finally interviewed Mulder while Agent Andrews questioned Scully separately. Once they'd been reunited, Andrews informed them of Fowley and Hansel deaths and their role in Mulder's injuries. Scully felt relieved the danger had passed but still reluctant to leave his side. She'd nearly lost him, not something she wanted to experience again.

Mulder still tired easily and required large amount of frequent pain medication. Left alone, he would attempt to work through his discomfort, rather than take the proscribed pills. They'd spent much of their first night in a double room talking over the events of the last few days, delighted by the withdrawal of constant nursing care.

'Scully,' determination flared in the depths of his eyes, 'you've been constantly at my side for days with little regard for your mental health and well being. I have to be here, you don't,' he reminded her bluntly. Forcing his attention to the woman attempting to hide her mirth, Mulder pleaded with Lauren, 'take her away for a while will you.'

'Come on, Dana,' Lauren pleaded, 'I've so much to tell you.'

Defeated, Scully returned to the bathroom, changing into the clothing her mother brought when she visited yesterday. Lauren used the opportunity to scrutinise Dana Scully Fiancée. She decided she liked what she saw but still needed to confirm her suspicions.

'Did you know, the only reason Dana vasovagaled on us in the ER, had to do with Diana Fowley insinuating the two of you were married,' she stated, watching for his reaction.

The look of utter horror and rapid eye movement towards the closed bathroom door assured Lauren that Dana hadn't informed her fiancée. 'I kind of got the idea you might have been close to Diana once,' Lauren fished unsuccessfully as hazel eyes gazed on her without expression. Not one to be deterred, she stared back relentlessly.

'After you're married,' Lauren continued with a wicked grin letting him know she held no grudge on her friends' behalf and she now knew the truth, 'it'll rase some eyebrows calling your wife by her maiden name.'

'Thanks for pointing that out,' Mulder attempted ironic but the slight upward curving of his lips spoiled the effect. He couldn't help but like Scull….Dana's friend and her display of loyalty towards his fiancée.

'You're welcome,' Lauren returned, realising they'd come to an understanding. 'When you're finally free of this place, you and Dana will have to join our family for dinner.'

'It's a date, if we don't see you at our wedding first,' he fired back just as Scully came out of the bathroom fully clothed. _I have to start thinking of her as Dana_, Mulder berated, _Mrs Dana Mulder, I like the sound of that_.

'I'm on days off until Saturday night and Coles still home on emergency leave,' Lauren chatted happily as they left the hospital precinct for a small café down the block. 'Beside we pregnant women need to eat for more than one,' Lauren patted her slightly swollen belly before eyeing Scully's. 'Kind of hard to keep your secret with all the gossip circulating.'

'Between Mulder's mother and mine, they seem to have informed the entire family on both sides. Last night, between them, they decided they needed to hijack the wedding because we're both in hospital and couldn't possibly make the arrangement by ourself,' Scully complained.

'You need to get out of here,' Lauren stated as they entered the café and took a window seat, 'you're not sick enough to still be in hospital, Dana.'

'Where would I go,' she asked forlornly, fingering the menu she knew by heart. 'I want to be with Mulder. I know he's healing well, but….'

'You are not going back to that jail cell you call an apartment,' Lauren put her foot down. 'It doesn't have heating or air-conditioning. What about Mulder's place?'

'It's currently a crime scene,' Dana explained, filling her friend in on the involvement of Diana Fowley and Guy Hansel, skipping over the "details" of Mulder's supposed "investigation".

'Your mom's,' Lauren asked, still considering what she heard.

'In Annapolis,' Scully laughed, 'that's at least a forty minute drive each way and Mrs Mulder is staying. I'd be harassed every minute by two over protective woman attempting to plan the wedding to end all weddings. No thank you.'

'Point taken,' Lauren added her amusement, signalling the waitress they'd have their usual. 'Cone on Dana, there has to be a solution. You can't stay in the hospital.'

A delighted smile teased the corners of her mouth, deepening the blue in her eyes. 'I'll have Mulder's cousins look into a short term in Georgetown for me, as a favour. Did I tell you they _**are**_ Finkelstein and Sons?'

'You're kidding,' Lauren's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

'No,' the reaction delighted Scully and she let out her first real chuckle in days. 'You should see the house they found. Mulder wants me to look at it on the weekend,' she whispered in awe.

'If a Finkelstein's involved,' the wonder at the alliance her friend admitted too, astounded Lauren, 'I can only imagine.'

'Before we go back, I'll show you the description. I don't know how, but Robert sent pictures of the house over the internet (this is set in the early 90's) and it seems perfect.'

'I bumped into Graham before coming to see you,' Lauren added slowly to gage the reaction of her friend, 'he told me your vagal nerve is finally behaving itself and you've been demonitored with the possibility of going home tomorrow or Friday. I know you couldn't have seen this dream house because you haven't been discharged yet.'

'I'm hoping that won't change too soon, until I can get accommodation sorted out. Mulder agrees with Graham, he wants me out as soon as possible now there's no real danger to his life.'

'Will wonders never cease,' Lauren muttered under her breath, teaming it with a shrug of her shoulders. 'It's a well known fact you've been taken off the ER roster and the reason why.'

Rolling her eyes, Scully replied in an exasperated voice, 'Graham's organised a position in the clinic's for the next ten weeks to cover Susan Wendell's maternity leave. He believes the work is easier. It'll drive me crazy listening to peoples minor issues all day.'

'Don't tell me you accepted,' Lauren couldn't hide her astonishment.

'No,' Dana found herself laughing whole heartily once again and realised it'd been far too long since she'd been this happy and carefree. 'I haven't told Mulder yet, but I don't plan on coming back to work until after the triplets are born. I don't think I could cope, even with the clinic roster. I can't believe how tired I am all the time. All I seem to do lately is sleep.'

Rolling her eyes in a will wonders never cease, Lauren said, 'so when are you planing on viewing this dream house?'

'Friday, if it can be arranged,' hungry for the first time in what seemed like weeks, Scully attached the plate of pancakes the waitress had placed before her. Being regulars, Bernice hadn't bothered to seat or ask the two junior doctors what they wanted. She'd just gone a head and ordered for them at Lauren's signal.

'Give me a look at that ring again,' Lauren ignored her eggs over easy on two slices of whole wheat, for Dana's offered hand. 'Wow, you have done well, Dana.'

'I know. While you might believe me, I bet there are a few around here who won't. It has absolutely nothing to do with the house or the money but everything to do with the man,' she stated emphatically.

'Didn't Marilyn Monroe say something like that in _Diamonds are a girl's best friend?'_ Lauren quipped.

'Yes,' Scully agreed easily, 'but she set out to get a rich husband. I just managed to pick mine up at a bar, only to find he owned it.'

**Day 34: Nurse Specials Unit, Georgetown Hospital, Thursday afternoon**

'I won't take no for an answer, Dana. We will be meeting your mother for lunch.' Dana Scully sounded exactly like Mulder's mother.

'And,' Mulder asked in sympathy, already informed of the reason his fiancée hadn't made it in to see him yesterday.

'They dragged me to three different garden venues, before lunch. I had to fake a vasovagal to get them to stop,' she demonstrated her acting skills by falling into the seat beside his bed.

'Poor baby, having a mother and future mother-in-law trying to help you plan you're wedding,' he quipped ironically.

'That kind of help I can do without,' she retorted testily. 'Rubin says the house should be in our possession by the end of next week. All going well, your Neurological and Surgical team are hopeful that you might come home early the week after.'

'We are not moving in until we're married, we can stay here in the Georgetown apartment until then,' Mulder told her emphatically.

Deciding to keep that battle for another day, Scully returned to her former topic, regaling Mulder with stories about reception venues which took up the rest of yesterday afternoon.

'How many will it hold,' he asked, not really interested in the place Dana spoke about.

'I'm not sure, but it's the most intimate of the five places we saw,' the determination to keep this small shone in her eyes.

'Scully,' still having trouble changing to her Christian name, Mulder corrected, 'Dana, my father has five sisters. Rubin and Robert are the youngest of my cousins. Some of my second cousins are a few years their senior.'

'Are you telling me your mother intends to invite the entire family,' she stared at him horrified, 'I haven't met half these people.'

'As far as the world is concerned, Bill Mulder is my father, Dana and yes my mother will ensure the extended family are all in attendance. Her need comes from being an only child of older parents who passed before my birth. Mom always made sure we kept up the socially acceptable relationship with the Mulder clan, even if dad didn't speak to his parents.'

'We might need to rethink this whole wedding thing,' Scully returned sarcastically, wondering if an elopement might not be better.

'Why,' he saw the panic in her expression and pulled her to sit beside him on the bed.

'I have three siblings; my mom is one of ten and my father the eldest of five. Any idea how many family members we have between us? That's before considering close friends.'

'How did you ever think you'd get away with a quiet garden wedding, Sc….Dana,' Mulder questioned with humour.

'More hope than reality,' she bit back the sarcasm, realising how stupid her dreams of small and intimate had been once Teena Mulder and Maggie Scully became involved.

'You can say that again, between you mom and mine, this is turning into a circus.' They still didn't know how they did it, this almost telepathic communication. It brought hilarity to the situation and they laughed together, feeling better about the circumstances, or at least more resigned to it.

'Welcome to the real world, Mr FBI. This is what happens when you put two women in charge, give them complete control and expected restraint. Honestly, Mulder, what made you think I couldn't handle this?' she demanded.

Cocking an eyebrow, he truly wondered where to start. Biting the bullet, Mulder retorted with a question, 'what time did you finally manage to get out of bed this morning, after almost fainting twice yesterday? Before you ask, yes, your mother called to make sure I knew about it. A yes, she asked me to make sure you're looking after yourself staying all alone here in D.C. Like I have any control over you.'

'God give me strength,' Dana prayed, 'I can't even escape them living thirty miles away.'

'Welcome to the real world, Dr Scully,' Mulder returned the comment, pulling her into his arms and snuggling up close.


	21. Chapter 21

**Mulder Residence, Arnold, Saturday Afternoon, Mid June**

'Ready,' Bill Scully looked on the apparition before him. His youngest daughter would always be beautiful. Today she exuded peace and confidence.

'Yes,' the word, delivered with an angelic smile, bespoke her comfort.

'You look radiant,' Bill didn't want to give her into another mans keeping. In a few minutes, that's exactly what he'd do.

'I look sixteen weeks pregnant with triplets,' Scully laughed to take the edge from her tone. The empire line dress, falling from her bust, made her look like some Jane Austin heroine in pale cream to suit her Irish colouring. It hid a multitude of sins, specifically her ever expanding belly. 'It's going to take you and Mom to get me down the stairs, let alone the isle and I still have at least another eighteen weeks of this.'

'Dana, are you having second thoughts,' Maggie asked looking over her daughters head to her husband with concern.

'No, Mom,' unable to stop the chuckle, Dana placed a hand over her mothers, forcing the older woman to look at her child. 'I want to do this more than anything in the world,' the commitment shone with in her blue orbs.

'Well let's get this show on the road,' Bill offered his arm.

They slowly made their way from the master bedroom, down the staircase and out through the open French doors onto the patio. After much debate, Dana and Mulder decided to use their home to host their wedding. Golden sand, defining one boundary of the five acres of their property, met the blue waters of Chesapeake Bay. A small jetty extended into the inlet separating Arnold from Annapolis in the distance. Green lawn sloped down to the small private beach. Dana and her parents had to cross the large patio before descending several step to the path leading to the crowd of more than one hundred well wishers gathered on the sand.

Parting easily as the bridal party reached the end of the lawn, Dana's expression softened. Since yesterday morning, Mulder's cousins had spirited him away, saying it would be bad luck for the bride to see her groom before the official service. He looked even taller and more distinguished than she remembered in a dark suit and, for once, appropriate tie. At that moment she realised just how much she loved and cherished this man.

_Be still my beating heart_, she quoted the poetry silently, attempting to regulate her breathing. He must have felt her presence, because his head turned, his gaze capturing hers. In that instant, they made their vows to each other. The rest of the ceremony would be window dressing for the friends and family surrounding them.

Neither would recall the next half hour. They were too lost in each other. The civil servant conducted the ceremony, stoping before the official announcement. At this point Father McCue added a blessing followed by Rabbi Goldsmith's sanctification. Finally, the marriage celebrant announced them Husband and Wife.

Careful of his new wife's protruding belly and the new life nestled within, Mulder wrapped one hand around her waist to rest in the middle of her back and pulled Dana close to him. The other hand snaked behind her neck, tilting her head to just the right angle. As his lips descended, he mouthed _I love you_, before softly applying their signature kiss.

Somewhat disappointed at the far to brief contact, Dana pulled him closer. Her tongue darted out and he instantly opened to her. Deepening the kiss, lingering for several seconds to taste him, she finally pulled away. Neither satisfied, they would wait, letting the tension build, until they could be alone together.

While the official documents were signed, the guests began to wonder to the Marquee set up to one side of the lawn. Teena Mulder quietly made her way to the back of the gathered crowd. Anger shone in her blue eyes. _How dare he come today of all d_ays, she fumed as she faced the bastard who sired her son and took him to a secluded corner of the garden.

'He knows,' she said in a terse whisper, attempting to avoid making a scene.

'Yes,' he rubbed at the nicotine replacement patch on his neck, 'I'm aware of that.'

'Everything,' Teena warned softly.

'I see,' the deep, gravely voice and brown eyes displayed no emotion.

'No, you don't,' making her wrath known, Teena ensured they hadn't attracted undue attention. 'You never did. You see power and position and what is to be controlled. Leave my son alone.'

'He's my son, also,' he stated matter of fact.

'He carries your genes, but that doesn't make him your son,' Teena denied.

'Just because his conception occurred in a test tube….' the man glared, only to be cut off.

'There is a merciful god,' Teena spat the words at him, 'I couldn't stand the site of you even then. Time has deepened my opinion. Now please leave. I want to enjoy my son's wedding.'

Dropping his gaze to the ground, the man turned. 'Please offer Mr and Mrs Mulder my congratulations on the impending birth of their children. I'll be keeping a close eye,' he tormented and walked away. Teena closed her eyes, happy he'd left. Fox and Dana didn't need this today, or ever.

**Georgetown, Thursday, Two weeks later. **

'He came to the wedding you know,' Teena said as she replaced her fork on the table, ignoring the salad.

They'd left Mulder at the hospital this morning for his final round of surgery. Teena had offered to come down to Washington and keep her daughter-in-law company. So far they'd taken in several exclusive baby boutiques where Teena had purchased three car seats, three cradles and two prams, a twin and single. The sale assistant had talked Dana out of a triplet contraption as too difficult to steer and too heavy to get into the new SUV her husband had brought her as a wedding present.

Now they sat in a small café eating lunch. Dana expected a call within the next hour to say her husband's surgery had ended. Mulder's doctor would allow her to sit with him in recovery. She'd stay in a small hotel for the next two or three nights before taking him home to recover.

'Yes,' Dana answered. She didn't need to ask whom Teena spoke of. Bill Mulder had been incensed by the intrusion after finally deciding to attend their wedding. Father and Son engaged in an argument over his presence when they thought themselves alone. Strangely it cleared the air and hinted that some kind of relationship might be salvaged when Mulder insisted that he only had one father, and that Bill was that father. Simply listening, Dana gave all her attention to the older woman sitting across the table and her memories of the Cigarette smoking man.

'I never slept with him,' she confessed. It could barely be called a whisper. The faraway expression left her seeing the events of the past so clearly. Teena had never spoken of this to anyone. 'We never had an affair. I know Fox thinks I did and blames me.'

'Then how?' Embarrassed, Dana knew she shouldn't ask but fell impelled to discover the truth. Teena Mulder never talked about anything she didn't want to. That she spoke so openly, gave Dana the idea she needed to confide the truth in someone.

'Very early reproductive technology. We were the real pioneers or guinea pigs, take your pick,' Teena stated easily, now on a safer topic. Pausing, her voice once again dropping in pitch, she continued in a sad tone, 'Bill only agreed because…..because we lost every child we ever conceived. You might not believe it, but I loved him once, in the beginning, like you love Fox. But I became desperate to be a mother any way possible. It worked the first time and they hailed this new technique a miracle. Then nothing. Not one of the other women had success so they changed their methods and used us as experiments. Samantha took several attempts. They made me try again being the only woman to successfully carry a child to term. I didn't want to know why I'd been so lucky. I found myself grateful I never conceived again. Two healthy children, I never wanted more than that.'

They sat in silence for several minutes while Teena lost herself in memories. 'He knows about your pregnancy,' typical of her son's rapid changes in mood, Dana could see were her husband inherited the maddening trait. 'He's still involved with the project and he's made it his business to find out about you, your children and Fox.'

'Why are you telling me this?' Dana asked, confusion written on her face.

'You're a doctor,' she explained, 'You need to know. You're my only child's spouse, a woman and pregnant. You understand in a way Fox never could.'

'I think you underestimate your son,' pursing her lips, Dana gave her Mother-in-law a glare. This woman should know her son better. She thought Teena and Fox had finally started to mend their stretched relationship. 'You need to tell him.'

'I need you to tell Fox. I can't. We don't have that kind of bond,' the confession tore at her shredded heart.

'You never will,' Dana softened her expression, 'if you refuse to open up to him and be vulnerable. Trust me, I've had to learn the same lesson and it's been your son who taught me.'

Two days later, driving home from the hospital, Dana found the opening she needed to speak about the odd visitor at their wedding and Teena's confession.

'Mulder,' approaching the topic calmly, she continued with one eye on her husband's reactions, 'tell me about the time before Samantha's disappearance.'

Looking confused, Mulder wondered where his wife was going with this. By some unspoken dictate, they rarely talked about Samantha's abduction and the time which followed. Recently, however, he'd learnt to humour the sometimes hormonal creature sitting beside him.

'Where you happy, your family?' she asked, the question important on so many levels.

Shrugging his shoulders, Mulder answered easily, 'we could have been Middle America's pin up family. Mom, Dad, two kids, one boy, one girl, nice house in the Vineyard and a summer house by the lake. Friends and family always around for the holidays. Just like your family still is. Why?'

'We'll be a family soon. I wanted to know what you experienced before your family disintegrated,' she confessed.

'Believe me, Dana,' Mulder examined her expression, realising she had more to say, 'we'll make it. We have the Scully's as a role model and your sibling turned out well, except, maybe, Bill's over protectiveness.'

That brought a smile to both of them, before Dana once again turned serious. 'What if your mother never had an affair,' she threw at him, carefully watching for his reaction.

'Dana,' he made the sound remorseful. She knew he wanted to believe. 'I held proof in my hand. William Mulder and I do not share any genetics,' Mulder stated sadly, 'even if we did, I'm not convinced our family would have done any better. Besides, if Mom didn't have an affair, how would Samantha and I have come into this world?'

'IVF, Mulder,' Dana's expression asked him to trust and believe.

'In 1961,' he commented with incredulity.

'German Scientists tinkered with Mendellien genetics in the 1930's in the name of breeding the ultimate Aryan race. Watson and Crick discovered DNA in 1946. Your dad stated those same scientists entered post war America to continue the work they started. Wouldn't IVF be the ultimate cumulation of all that research?' she theorised.

'The first IVF baby hit the headline in 1973,' Mulder shot her down with an inpatient look, 'I turned twelve.'

'The first commercial IVF baby, Mulder,' Dana spoke softly but with determination he rarely heard. 'By then you know the government had been secretly carrying out eugenics for twenty years at least. Why don't you talk to your Mother about the events surrounding your conception, you might be surprised.'

'She spoke to you,' intrigued and confused, Mulder turned in his seat to seek her body language and gage Dana's reactions.

Eye's flicking from the road to her frankly disbelieving husband, she said in a firm voice, 'Yes.'

'She told you this,' he couldn't help it, he had to ask, 'my mother, the woman who keeps her emotions to herself better than you do?'

'Yes,' she answered simply realising how difficult it would be to accept his mother confession as true.

'Why didn't she tell me?' the betrayal laced his tone and expression.

'Maybe she afraid,' Dana offered.

'Of what?' Mulder spat.

'You, your reaction, the safely of your children, what you might do with the information,' softening her voice in an attempt to stay completely neutral, she gave her conclusion. 'If your mom won't open a dialogue, maybe you need too.'


	22. Chapter 22

**Georgetown Hospital, Wednesday Morning, Mid July**

Seven weeks ago their technician grunted through the same procedure. Dana had to explain the blobs on the screen to Mulder when the uncommunicative man refused. He sat in utter amazement hanging on every word as the ultrasound wand travelled over her abdomen. It revealed three tiny foetuses, heads, arms and legs visible on the monitor.

'Dana,' Mulder whispered in wonder, 'they're real.'

'Very real,' she stated rationally but the twinkle in her blue orbs belayed her amusement. Finally he understood, coming to the undeniable truth that together they'd crated these three living, breathing beings inhabiting her body.

'I want my daughter to look just like you,' he stated emphatically.

'I'm hoping for all boys,' Dana replied leaning over to kiss him lightly on the lips much to the technicians' displeasure. 'Much easer to rase than girls.'

Too soon to ascribe gender, Mulder and Scully made the decision not at ask at the twenty week scan. Before they could tell the happy, bubbly individual at their second major ultrasound, she did a cursory image check and stated, 'Well at least you have one of each, although I'm not telling you the gender of the identical twins. There has to be some surprises. So you'll have to come up with two names for boys and for girls.'

'I get to pick the girl names,' Mulder teased.

He'd decided his wife carried three little girls with red hair and blue eyes. Knowing he'd get at least one daughter thrilled him. Secretly, he hoped for a son as well but would never let on to Dana when she still insisted she carried three boys.

'You get to make a list,' she rased that eyebrow he'd become familiar with. Her piercing blue eyes wouldn't let him get away with anything, especially names she objected too. 'Then we sit down and cull the list to names we both agree on.'

'Then I get to choose,' he sounded like a child let loose in a candy shop for the first time.

'Yes, Mulder,' unable to hide the mischief, Dana managed to get out in a serious tone, 'but I get to chose the boy names before you cull the list.'

The sonographer laughed. 'You still have plenty of time to make you decision. Why don't we continue the scan and make sure these little one's are happy and healthy.'

Spell bound by the images, the session took almost two hours, although it didn't seem like it with the woman's constantly cheerful chatter. 'Well that about wraps this up. Its always seems like a marathon with multiples but I'm happy to say, nothing looks abnormal. Of course you'll have to wait for your specialist to review the results and he wants you to have scans at twenty six and thirty two weeks to check the progress of these three. Oh you've opted for the Nuchal Screen as well. Although at your age, Dana, there shouldn't be much chance of chromosomal defects.'

This forced a conspiratal clash of blue and hazel. Anxious for the results of the genetic testing they decided must be done, hope and fear communicated in a glance. If abnormalities were found at this stage, Dana would undergo an amniocentesis in the next week or two. The chance of miscarriage had been considered. They'd both decided further genetic studies, given Mulder's history, would be prudent if even a hint an aberration presented itself.

Redressing quickly, Dana returned to the waiting area. Mulder had just replaced his wallet in his hip pocket after paying for the procedure. Placing his hand in the middle of her back, he escorted his wife towards the parking lot.

'Don't even think about adding Fox to your list of possibilities,' he grumbled.

'Did the receptionist call you by your given name again,' Dana didn't attempt to hide her mirth, knowing how much he hated it. Realising the need to forget about the technicians final comments, Scully continued their conversation by asking, 'what about William Fox Mulder.'

'Not even as a middle name, Dana,' he warned, yet his eyes thanked her for not bring up the subject which would be at the forefront of their minds until they saw Graham Markham next week. 'I don't want my son to have identity issues. Come on Scully, my middle name, both our fathers and your brother, isn't that enough William's.'

'Call it a family tradition,' she quipped, hiding her disappointment. William would always be a favourite because of the special bond with her father.

'Well its one family tradition we're not going to follow, Mrs Mulder,' he put his foot down. As much as Dana loved her father, Mulder still felt some antipathy toward his but at least they were working on it.

'It still feels strange,' Dana sighed, fingering the engagement and wedding ring inhabiting her left hand.

'What does,' he asked, looking down on her. A smile suddenly graced his lips as he spied her fidgeting phalanges.

'Being called Mrs Mulder,' Dana explained, turning her head to him. They'd been married twenty six days ago. Already it seemed like a life time and Dana thanked god everyday for finding this man, her husband. 'I suppose I'll get use to it before going back to work. Dr Dana Mulder, it'll take some getting use too.'

'Hey,' his grin widened, 'that makes two Dr Mulder's in the house.'

'Nice of you to tell me you had a Ph.D from Oxford University before we moved into our house,' Dana rebuked. Unpacking boxes had delved into his life prior to her. Dana Mulder learnt much about her husband that way. Just has he'd discovered her life prior to their first meeting at Spooky's rest.

'You never asked,' he retorted with a casual shrug of his shoulders. Honestly, it wasn't that important to him, just as the certificate for graduating top of his class at Quantico remained unearthed by his wife. When she did, Mulder knew it would take pride of place, beside his doctorate in the main hall. Dana couldn't be prouder of his achievements.

'No, I had to wait until I unpacked the framed certificate from a box in your office, Dr Mulder,' the complaint fell of deaf ears. 'What else aren't you telling me?'

'I'm an open book,' he quipped. To which she answered with a snort before awkwardly climbing into their car.

**Mulder Home, Arnold, Late August.**

'Dana,' Nancy Miller, their housekeeper, walked out onto the porch to find her employer dozing in a comfortable chair. 'I'm sorry Mr Mulder, she's asleep. Can I get her to call you back later?'

'I'm awake,' Dana yawned, holding her hand out for the phone, greeting the second of her husband three times a day phone calls with a 'hey.'

'I'm glad to hear you're following doctors orders,' he returned, light concern colouring his voice.

'Mulder,' she returned, 'I can't get out of a chair without the aid of the midwife you hired to be my constant companion. Between Nancy and Andrea, I don't have a chance to do anything for myself, not that I'm able most of the time. I'm huge and getting bigger.'

'That might be the reason your obstetrician placed you on complete bed rest and the only way to stay out of hospital,' Mulder reminded. 'I can always call Georgetown and let them know your returning for an extended stay.'

'I told you I'd behave myself,' Dana sighed theatrically, 'I know their only 26 weeks, but I can't wait to get them out. I can't believe Graham is going to make me wait at least another six weeks before he considered inducing them.'

'The case is wrapping up early,' he tried to hide the chuckle. 'I should be home by three.'

'Maybe we could use the new pool,' Dana thought it a monstrosity until the unseasonably hot weather hit. Now she considered it a very good investment. Pregnancy and the heat didn't make present companions.

'That doesn't sound like bed rest to me,' he stated sarcastically.

'I bet what you put me through last night wouldn't be considered gentle exercise by my doctor either,' Dana teased.

'I asked Graham, man to man about sex during pregnancy,' Mulder answered non pulsed by the accusation, 'he said as long as we were both satisfied it wouldn't be a problem.'

'Why doesn't that surprise me? Hurry home, water aids buoyancy and we might be able to think up some interesting and gentle exercises together,' she hinted.

'I'll keep you to that, Mrs Mulder,' Dana heard the smile in his voice.

**Mulder Home, Arnold, 25th October, 2am.**

'Mulder,' Dana reached for the man sleeping beside her, 'Mulder,' louder this time. She couldn't move on her own anymore. It took two people to put her to bed, and the same to get her out of it. Graham wanted her in hospital after the last scan two weeks ago. Dana had refused, much to Mulder's distress and Andrea's prase.

'What,' he woke instantly alert to the faint smell of ammonia in the room.

'Please go and get Andrea, I think my water just broke,' Dana requested, slightly panicked. To know, as a doctor what a woman's body would go through in the act of labour proved very different from experiencing it first hand.

Two minutes later, he arrived with the midwife. After examining her mother to be, Andrea spoke soothingly. 'Your two centimetres dilated, Dana. It's still early labour yet. But we'd better ring Dr Markham and arranged to get you to Georgetown Maternity sometime this morning. I don't need to tell you the complications that can occur with a multiple birth even if you've decided to go ahead naturally.'

To worried to drive the thirty miles to D.C., Mulder paced the floor, waiting on Andrea's every word. She waited another hour before forcing Dana to leave the comfort of her home. Once in the medical system, the chance of a spontaneous virginal birth decreased dramatically, especially with multiples and early labour. Dana would have to be both strong and determined to follow her birth plan.

She did. Undeterred by the enormous effort facing her, Dana Mulder refused intervention, even at her worried husbands pleading. After twelve hours of labour, the first of her three healthy children delivered naturally. The last born and smallest of her children had their cord cut by their astounded father before joining it's siblings on the way to the special care nursery.

'Go with them, Mulder,' Dana demanded, her eye's following her precious bundles.

'Let's clean you up first,' he returned, 'and we'll go down to the nursery together.'

As exhausted as she felt, it sounded like heaven. Sitting in a wheelchair between the twin and single crib, her husbands hand on one child, Dana touched the other two.

'Amazing, isn't it,' Mulder remarked in wonder. 'We made these.'

'Their perfect,' she cried.

Four weeks later, Mr and Mrs Mulder took all three home, together.


	23. Epilogue

OK guys, this is it, the Epilogue, the end, fin final. I hope you have all enjoyed the journey. If you have, I'll soon be starting _**Mrs**____**Spooky**____**Diaries,**____**Catalyst**_ and completing _**Coming**____**home**_. I hope you can join me for those.

**Year 4: Mulder House, Arnold, Maryland, Late Evening.**

'Do you ever wonder What If, Dana,' Mulder asked. They had finally retired to bed after getting the kids to sleep. Snuggling into her back, he continued, 'what if you'd managed to become an FBI agent.'

'I would never have met you,' Dana answered easily, wondering why her husband's mood became contemplative tonight. 'With my medical background, I would have been trapped at Quantico dissecting murder victims and teaching new recruits about forensic pathology. You would have become consumed by your search for the truth about your sisters' disappearance. No one in the bureau would consider giving you the X-files full time. The subject matter is still too far outside the mainstream to waste resources. Besides, you would have destroyed your professional reputation as an agent and a psychologist by investigating the paranormal. Even if I made it into the FBI, I doubt our paths would have crossed. So meeting you at Spookies Rest must have been fate.'

'You sound so sure,' Mulder smiled, wondering how close Dana's version of an alternative reality might be. They'd never know. Mulder had been deemed medically unfit to return to the FBI after being shot. He now worked as a civilian consultant and college professor. His wife had yet to return to work as a medical doctor after the birth of Christopher, Thomas and Katherine. Still, Mulder couldn't drop the subject, so he added, 'don't you think it might've been fun? If you'd become a field agent and we could have been partners.'

'I would have liked that,' Dana smiled at what might have been. 'I applied to join the FBI because I felt I could distinguish myself within the ranks.' Sighing at the naive thought, she realised life had worked out so much better. 'Life doesn't always turn out the way we think it will. Besides, I thought the FBI frowned on partners sleeping together. You would have been in real trouble then, Mulder.'

'Don't I know it,' the sudden smile erupted as Mulder thought about his aborted foray into the X-files. 'Are you happy, Dana, with our life, the way it turned out.'

'Yes,' she turned to her husband, 'aren't you?'

Taking time to gather his thoughts, he answered, 'I never though I'd have normal after such an unhappy childhood.'

'You call what we have normal?' she quipped lightly, leaning in to brush his lip with her own. They'd maintained their signature kiss as a method of communication.

As if their words had been heard by the universe and it decided to answer back, a wail split the air via the baby monitor on the bedside table. Dana sighed warily, throwing off the covers. If she didn't get to her son quickly, he would wake his sleeping twin. At six weeks of age, her children still need three to four hourly feeding.

'A mother's job is never done,' she commented over her shoulder, reaching for her robe at the foot of the bed. It still contained some warmth from her shower. Mulder had attempted to join her. Dana smiled at the thought. Dr Graham Markham hadn't given her the all clear to resume conjugal relations at her last check up, much to her husband's dismay. As usual, he'd found other ways to mutually pleasure each other.

'Monday,' Dana turned to her husband as a second hungry wail joined the first on the baby monitor, 'I'm secluding you an appointment with a general surgeon.'

Watching her hurrying to the nursery before the rest of the household woke, Mulder chuckled. He knew Dana didn't want more children. His wife felt complete with the family they had. Not that he could blame her but her suggestion hadn't been discussed and Mulder didn't quite know how he felt about it. Reaching for his own robe, he quickly donned it. He loved to watch his wife feed their children. Making his way down the hall to the nursery, he stoped at Katherine's door.

'Daddy,' the sleepy tone issued from his three year old daughter. The light from the hall disturbed her sleep.

'Shh, Princess,' Mulder soothed the child, entering further into her room. Sitting on the side of the bed, his hand went to the little girls back. Tracing lazy circles, she immediately resettled.

'I love you Daddy,' Katherine murmured as she returned to the land of dreams.

'Daddy loves you too Princess,' he whispered, laying a light kiss on the crown of her silky red head. Of all their children, this little girl reminded Mulder of himself, except for the colour of her hair. That aspect Katherine had inherited from her mother.

Padding softly back across the room, Mulder quietly closed the door. Learning from his mistake, he poked his head into the boy's room further down the corridor. Thomas had once again kicked off his covers. Sighing, Mulder tiptoed to his slumbering son and attempted to firmly tuck in his sheet and blanket. They had tried, in vain to separate Thomas from his sleeping bags in favour of bed clothes. He'd proven a restless sleeper, unlike his identical twin or fraternal female triplet. Christopher and Katherine had easily given up their growbag's® when moved from their cribs to a big kid beds three months ago on their third birthday.

Kissing both boys, he returned to the hall. Thomas had managed to escape the confines of his bedding already. Giving up, Mulder found his favourite sleeping bag and carefully enclosed his son in it. 'Your mom's going to kill me in the morning,' he whispered, but the effort seemed worth it from the contented expression now covering Thomas's face.

Finally, Mulder reached the nursery. Dana sat in the rocking chair. William continued to suckle happily from his mothers left breast. Samantha had obviously finished her meal and needed burping.

Both Dana's and his father had passed since the birth of their triplets. They decided to honour the lost members of their family in naming the newest editions to their family. Mulder still objected to the use of Fox for William middle name. He'd won that round.

'Don't just stand their,' Dana rased an eyebrow, 'your daughter needs a dipper change and her wind brought up.'

Taking the infant, Mulder gently held her chin with one large hand and rubbed her back with the other. They'd perfected this ritual with the birth of the triplets. His reward came in the form of milk spit down the front of his t-shirt. _Well__maybe__not__perfected_, Mulder snorted at himself. His wife's laughing blue eyes reminding Mulder to use a burping cloth next time. His hazel glare told her she'd pay for this once they got back to their bed.

'Look at me the wrong way again tonight, Mulder,' Dana warned, a smile softening the words she uttered in earnest, 'and you won't need a professional to do that vasectomy.'

'We used birth control successfully for over two years, Dana,' he reminded her softly. Yet if she really wanted him to do this, he knew he would. Mulder knew he couldn't, wouldn't deny his wife anything she really wanted.

Rolling her eyes, she answered, 'Dr Markham wouldn't give the all clear for our sex life to continue until the Triplets turned three months old. Need I remind you, I was pregnant with the twins for nine months?'

'Your point being?' he asked in a blatantly sexy voice.

'The first time we slept together, we get not one, but three children. I forget to take the pill for one night and we finish up with five children under the age of four, Mulder.' That eye roll again. 'It wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't produce two eggs every cycle and your swimmers failed once in a while.'

'Come on Scully,' he used her maiden name deliberately, along with a slow intimate smile, 'it could be worse. We could be normal and you'd have to have five pregnancies to get this many kids.'

'Great,' she felt like throwing the feeding cushion at him, 'I'd be the oldest intern in the medical profession, when I finally get around to completing my training.'

Surprised by her comment, Mulder turned serious before asking, 'do you really want to go back to work?'

'You don't think bring up five children is work,' she couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

Fox Mulder became deadly still. Capturing his hazel eyes with her cerulean gaze, Dana Mulder realised her husband had suddenly turned serious. He wanted to know how she felt. Changing infants, so Mulder could burp and changed William, Dana swaddled Samantha and placed her in the crib the twins shared for the moment. Once both babies settled, she held out her hand. Taking it, Mulder followed her down the hall to their bedroom.

'I love you,' Dana told him, making sure she captured his gaze. They still communicated with a touch or glance as well as words. 'I wouldn't change a minute of what we have. You once said, given our jobs and personalities, this would never be easy. You were right, but it doesn't mean I want to give up the chance to be a practicing doctor one day. I feel fulfilled with the family we have for now. I don't want or need anymore than this at the moment. In the future, I want to return to work. I need more than being a wife and mother. I always have.'

'Make that appointment for me on Monday, Dana,' he capitulated, pulling her into bed with him. Snuggling into her, Mulder couldn't keep his feelings restrained, so he whispered, 'I love you.'

'You're still not getting any tonight,' she teased, turning out the soft bed side light.

'Seems to be the story of my life lately,' he grumbled good naturedly, pulling her closer and planting a soft kiss on the top of her head. Smiling at the light snore, Mulder knew it would be years before his wife returned to work outside the home. Amused by the thought, he said, 'good night, Dana,' before letting himself fall into a peaceful, dreamless sleep. The psychologist in him would say being perfectly content had chased away the demons and cured his insomnia. Mulder put the blame completely and utterly on the petite, redhead ensconced in his arms.


End file.
